Jewish American Heritage Month

Stories about Jewish lives or written by Jewish authors

Updated April 17, 2025
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American pastoral
Roth, Philip.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century--a compulsively readable elegy for America's promises of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss, and "one of Roth's most powerful novels ever" (The New York Times)....
Bearing the body
Havazelet, Ehud.
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year At the start of Bearing the Body, Nathan Mirsky learns that his older brother has died in San Francisco, apparently murdered after years of aimlessness. On the spur of the moment, Nathan leaves his job as a medical...
Bee season : a novel
Goldberg, Myla.
Paper Book
Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when...
The chosen : a novel
Potok, Chaim.
Paper Book
"Anyone who finds it is finding a jewel. Its themes are profound and universal."--The Wall Street Journal It is the now-classic story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And...
The cost of free land : Jews, Lakota, and an American inheritance
Clarren, Rebecca
Paper Book
Winner of the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction Winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Nonfiction Finalist for The Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize Shortlisted for The William Saroyan International Prize A Kirkus Reviews...
Don't forget to write : a novel
Confino, Sara Goodman
Paper Book
In 1960, a young woman discovers a freedom she never knew existed in this exhilarating, funny, and emotional novel by the bestselling author of She's Up to No Good. When Marilyn Kleinman is caught making out with the rabbi's son in front of the whole congregation, her parents...
Doppelganger : a trip into the mirror world
Klein, Naomi
Paper Book
A finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner of the Women's Prize for Nonfiction NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | National Indie Bestseller A New York Times notable book of 2023 | Vulture's #1 book of 2023...
The dovekeepers : a novel
Hoffman, Alice.
Paper Book
Over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman's most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient Israel. In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a...
The drowned and the saved
Levi, Primo.
Paper Book
Levi wrote of the moral collapse that occurred in Auschwitz and the fallibility of human memory that allows such atrocities to recur. Levi's last book published before his death in 1987.
Eight very bad nights : a collection of Hanukkah noir
Goldberg, Tod
Paper Book
This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of Hanukkah noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Festival of Lights. Includes stories by David L. Ulin, Ivy Pochoda, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki...
Exile Music: A Novel
Steil, Jennifer
Paper Book
Based on an unexplored slice of World War II history, Exile Music is the captivating story of a young Jewish girl whose family flees refined and urbane Vienna for safe harbor in the mountains of Bolivia As a young girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, Orly has an idyllic...
Find me
Aciman, André
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller In this spellbinding exploration of the varieties of love, the author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name revisits its complex and beguiling characters decades after their first meeting. No novel in...
The fixer
Malamud, Bernard.
Paper Book
The Fixer is the winner of the 1967 National Book Award for Fiction and the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Fixer (1966) is Bernard Malamud's best-known and most acclaimed novel -- one that makes manifest his roots in Russian fiction, especially that of Isaac...
Fleishman is in trouble : a novel
Brodesser-Akner, Taffy
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST * "A masterpiece" (NPR) about marriage, divorce, and the bewildering dynamics of ambition Now an Emmy Award-nominated FX limited series on Hulu, starring Claire Danes, Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, and...
Foundation
Asimov, Isaac
Audiobook
Great house
Krauss, Nicole.
Paper Book
For twenty-five years, a reclusive American novelist has been writing at the desk she inherited from a young Chilean poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's secret police; one day a girl claiming to be the poet's daughter arrives to take it away, sending the writer's life reeling. Across the...
Heir to the glimmering world
Ozick, Cynthia.
Paper Book
Cynthia Ozick is an American master at the height of her powers in Heir to the Glimmering World, a grand romantic novel of desire, fame, fanaticism, and unimaginable reversals of fortune. Ozick takes us to the outskirts of the Bronx in the 1930s, as New York fills with Europe's ousted dreamers,...
Herzog
Bellow, Saul.
Paper Book
In one of his finest achievements, Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow presents a multifaceted portrait of a modern-day hero, a man struggling with the complexity of existence and longing for redemption. A Penguin Classic This is the story of Moses Herzog, a great...
The history of Soul 2065
Krasnoff, Barbara
Paper Book
In THE HISTORY OF SOUL 2065, Nebula Award finalist Barbara Krasnoff has accomplished a stunning feat. This collection of interconnected short stories crosses many genres, spinning tales of sorcery, ghosts, time travel, virtual reality, alien contact, and epic, elemental confrontations between good...
The impossible exile : Stefan Zweig at the end of the world
Prochnik, George
Paper Book
An original study of exile, told through the biography of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, the man who inspired The Grand Budapest Hotel   By the 1930s, Stefan Zweig had become the most widely translated living author in the world. His novels, short stories, and biographies were...
Kissing kosher
Meltzer, Jean
Paper Book
"An unflinchingly honest romance." --Kirkus, starred review From the author of THE MATZAH BALL and MR. PERFECT ON PAPER comes this hilarious and emotional rivals-to-lovers romance. Step 1: Get the secret recipe. Step 2: Don't fall in love......
A legacy
Bedford, Sybille
Paper Book
A Legacy is the tale of two very different families, the Merzes and the Feldens. The Jewish Merzes are longstanding members of Berlin's haute bourgeoisie who count a friend of Goethe among their distinguished ancestors. Not that this proud legacy means much of anything to them anymore....
The light of the midnight stars
Rossner, Rena
Paper Book
Experience an evocative combination of fantasy, history, and Jewish folklore in this lush and lyrical fairytale-inspired novel from the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood. Deep in the Hungarian woods, the sacred magic of King Solomon lives on in his descendants. Gathering...
Like never before
Havazelet, Ehud.
Paper Book
A stirring portrait as ten stories explore the intersections of three generations of an Orthodox Jewish family. Supple, sentimental, and darkly beautiful.--Los Angeles Times.
Long Island compromise : a novel
Brodesser-Akner, Taffy
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * An exhilarating novel about one American family and the dark moment that shatters their suburban paradise, from the New York Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * New York<...
Love you a latke
Elliot, Amanda
Paper Book
Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is pissed. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her cafe every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls. And, as the only Jew on the tourism...
Magical meet cute
Meltzer, Jean
Paper Book
"A laugh-out-loud funny romance with depth and heart, readers will love this spellbinding novel!" --Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author Is he the real deal...or did she truly summon a golem? Faye Kaplan used to be...
Man's search for meaning
Frankl, Viktor E.
Paper Book
A book for finding purpose and strength in times of great despair, the international best-seller is still just as relevant today as when it was first published. "This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength." --Anderson...
Mazeltov : a novel
Zuzovsky, Eli
Paper Book
In a glorious debut, a boy confronts queer lust, shame, the threat of war, and the plague of family on the day he becomes a man At a banquet hall, at the onset of war, Adam Weizmann's bar mitzvah party turns into a glorious catastrophe. On the cusp of manhood--and the verge of...
Metamorphosis and other stories
Kafka, Franz
Paper Book
A brilliant new translation of Kafka's best-known work, published for the 125th anniversary of his birth This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes Metamorphosis, his most...
Moonglow : a novel
Chabon, Michael
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal * An NBCC Finalist for 2016 Award for Fiction * ALA Carnegie Medal Finalist for Excellence in Fiction * Wall Street Journal's Best Novel of the Year * A New York Times Notable Book of the...
The New York trilogy : City of glass, Ghosts, The locked room
Auster, Paul
Paper Book
The remarkable, acclaimed series of interconnected detective novels City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room, from New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster.   This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition includes an introduction from author and...
Night
Wiesel, Elie
Paper Book
Wiesel's account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps, including a new preface is which he reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man's capacity for inhumanity to man.
The particular sadness of lemon cake : a novel
Bender, Aimee.
Paper Book
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she's nbsp;privy to...
The postcard
Berest, Anne
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR TIME Magazine・NPR・Library Journal・The Globe and Mail・Lilith・Forward Magazine・Toronto Star・The New Yorker Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest...
The power : a novel
Alderman, Naomi
Paper Book
In this stunning bestseller praised as "our era's Handmaid's Tale," a fierce new power has emerged--and only women have it (Washington Post).  In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around...
Rimonim : ritual poetry of Jewish liberation
Levins Morales, Aurora
Paper Book
"Aurora Levins Morales's poetry radiates wisdom, warmth, and fortitude. A prophetic, life-centered guide for times of tumult and struggle." --Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents  Rimonim is a richly woven tapestry of poetry meant for use. From...
The servants' quarters
Freed, Lynn.
Paper Book
The Servants' Quarters,a complex and sophisticated love story, evokes a vanishing world of privilege with a Pygmalion twist.Haunted by phantoms of the Second World War and the Holocaust, young Cressida lives in terror of George Harding, who, severely disfigured, has returned from...
The seven good years : a memoir
Keret, Etgar
Paper Book
A brilliant, life-affirming, and hilarious memoir from a "genius" (The New York Times) and master storyteller. With illustrations by Jason Polan. The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret's son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of...
The shawl
Ozick, Cynthia.
Paper Book
From the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a story about the Holocaust that "burns itself into the reader's imagination with almost surreal powers" (The New York Times). "Read this great little book of Cynthia Ozick's: It contains dazzling...
The street of crocodiles and other stories
Schulz, Bruno
Paper Book
The collected fiction of "one of the most original imaginations in modern Europe" (Cynthia Ozick) Bruno Schulz's untimely death at the hands of a Nazi stands as one of the great losses to modern literature. During his lifetime, his work found little critical regard, but word of...
Surviving the forest
Geffen, Adiva
Paper Book
Five shots on Saturday morning changed their fate ... She was a beautiful and happy young woman who lived a fairytale life. Shurka, her beloved husband and their two small children lived in a pretty house in a village in Poland, surrounded by a little garden with lilies. This was their...
Tepper isn't going out : a novel
Trillin, Calvin.
Paper Book
Murray Tepper would say that he is an ordinary New Yorker who is simply trying to read the newspaper in peace. But he reads while sitting behind the wheel of his parked car, and his car always seems to be in a particularly desirable parking spot. Not surprisingly, he is regularly interrupted by...
Uncomfortable conversations with a Jew
Acho, Emmanuel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From two New York Times bestselling authors, a timely, disarmingly honest, and thought-provoking investigation into antisemitism that connects the dots between the tropes and hatred of the past to our current complicated moment.
Wandering stars
Sholem Aleichem
Paper Book
The first complete translation of an epic love story by the creator of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Yiddish humorist Sholem Aleichem as well as the 100th anniversary of the publication of Wandering Stars,...
We need to talk about antisemitism
Fersko, Diana
Paper Book
A millennial rabbi explores why we're reluctant to discuss antisemitism--and empowers us to fight against it  Antisemitism is on the rise in America, in cities and rural areas, in red states and blue states, and in guises both subtle and terrifyingly overt. Rabbi Diana Fersko...
What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank
Englander, Nathan.
Paper Book
These eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted young author grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of language and the imagination that place Englander at the very forefront of contemporary American fiction.

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