Posted by Naomi Firestone-Teeter
We were overwhelmed with amazing Jewish books and authors in 2014, and, considering the pile of 2015 books already towering on our desks, it looks like 2015 will bring the same punch. With Saul Bellow’s 100th birthday approaching in June, be on the lookout for three new Bellow-themed books coming out over the next few months, listed below. Additionally, two of our Unpacking the Book authors have debut novels coming out in March: Daniel Torday (The Last Flight of Poxl West) and Alexis Landau (The Empire of the Senses).
Looking for some great new cookbooks? Well, we already have six mouth-watering options on the horizon. And if you’re looking to hear from some crowd favorites we have new books by Jonathan D. Sarna, Steve Stern, and Elisa Albert coming your way as well.
You’ll also have the opportunity to hear from twelve of the below authors on our Visiting Scribe series — including Shulem Deen, author of the forthcoming memoir All Who Do Not Return—where they’ll share more about their work, the backstory, reading lists, and more. Plus, there are some great book club reads that you’ll be hearing more about over the coming months (The Nightingale and A Reunion of Ghosts, to name just two).
We’re really excited about the year ahead and hope that you’ll continue to check back here to learn more about these titles and their creators — and perhaps even win a book or two!
January
- The Disappearance of Daniel Klein — Cynthia Hagan (Preston Publishing House)
- Saul Bellow: Novels 1984 – 2000 — Saul Bellow (Library of America) — Start your Bellow reading with our reading list.
- Jewish Mad Men: Advertising and the Design of the American Jewish Experience — Kerri P. Steinberg (Rutgers University Press) — Visiting Scribe the week of January 26th
February
- The Nightingale — Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press) — Visiting Scribe the week of February 2nd
- After Birth — Elisa Albert (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) — Visiting Scribe the week of February 16th, plus come hear Elisa Albert speak on March 24th at JBC’s brand new literary series Unpacking the Book and read her previous work here.
- The New Passover Menu — Paula Shoyer (Sterling Epicure)
- Prudence: A Novel — David Treuer (Riverhead)
- Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers — Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg (Schocken)
- Lies, First Person — Gail Hareven; Dalya Bilu, trans. (Open Letter) — while you’re waiting for her new book, check out Gail Hareven’s The Confessions of Noa Weber.
- The Myth of the Cultural Jew — Roberta Rosenthal Kwall (Oxford University Press) — Visiting Scribe the week of March 16th
March
- The Empire of the Senses: A Novel — Alexis Landau (Pantheon) — Visiting Scribe the week of February 23rd, plus come hear Alexis Landau speak on February 24th at JBC’s brand new literary series Unpacking the Book
- The Last Flight of Poxl West: A Novel — Daniel Torday (St. Martin’s Press) — Visiting Scribe the week of March 9th, plus come hear Daniel Torday speak on February 24th at JBC’s brand new literary series Unpacking the Book
- Lincoln and the Jews: A History — Jonathan Sarna and Benjamin Shapell (Thomas Dunne Books) — check out our Jonathan Sarna Reading List here.
- There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction — Saul Bellow; Benjamin Taylor, ed. (Viking Adult)
- Modern Jewish Cooking: Recipes & Customs for Today’s Kitchen — Leah Koenig (Chronicle Books) — while you’re waiting for her latest cookbook, check out Leah Koenig’s The Hadassah Everday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen.
- Me Being Me Is Exactly as Insane as You Being You — Todd Hasak-Lowy (Simon Pulse) — Todd Hasak-Lowy has translated several books on our site from Hebrew (A Possibility of Violence, Motti (one of my personal 2011 favorites), and Netanya), but you should also check out his own novel Captives.
- A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel — Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)
- Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel — Annie Cohen-Solal (Yale University Press) — a title from Yale’s Jewish Lives series. Find the rest of the books here.
- A Reunion of Ghosts: A Novel Hardcover — Judith Claire Mitchell (Harper)
- American Ghost: A Family’s Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest- Hannah Nordhaus (Harper)
- Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection — Jacob Silverman (Harper)
- All Who Go Do Not Return — Shulem Deen (Graywolf Press) — Visiting Scribe the week March 2nd
- The Covenant Kitchen — Jeff Morgan (Schocken)
- The Community Table: Recipes and Stories from the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan and Beyond — JCC Manhattan (Grand Central Life & Style) — Visiting Scribe the week of March 23rd
- Where the Bird Sings Best - Alejandro Jodorowsky; Alfred MacAdam, trans. (Restless Books)
- Prayers for the Living: A Novel — Alan Cheuse (Fig Tree Books)
April
- After Abel and Other Stories — Michal Lemberger (Prospect Park Books) — Visiting Scribe the week of April 20th
- The Sound of Our Steps: A Novel — Ronit Matalon; Dalya Bilu, trans. (Metropolitan Books)
- KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps — Nikolaus Wachsmann (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- The Big Green Tent: A Novel — Ludmila Ulitskaya; Bela Shayevich, trans. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Even in Darkness: A Novel — Barbara Stark-Nemon (She Writes Press) — Visiting Scribe the week of April 13th
- Jewish Festival Food: Eating for Special Occasions: 75 Delicious Dishes For Every Holiday And Celebration — Marlena Spieler (Lorenz Books)
- Hustling Hitler: The Jewish Vaudevillian Who Fooled the Führer — Walter Shapiro (Blue Rider Press)
- Washing the Dead — Michelle Brafman (Prospect Park Books) — Visiting Scribe the week of April 27th
May
- The Death’s Head Chess Club: A Novel — John Donoghue (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915 – 1964 — Zachary Leader (Knopf)
- The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today’s Kitchen — Fania Lewando; Eve Jochnowitz, trans. (Schocken)
- Alexandrian Summer — Yitzhak Gormezano Goren; Yardenne Greenspan, trans. (New Vessel Press) — read more about New Vessel Press here.
- The Book of Aron: A Novel — Jim Shepard (Knopf)
- Léon Blum: Prime Minister, Socialist, Zionist — Pierre Birnbaum (Yale University Press) — find all of the titles in Yale’s Jewish Lives series here.
- My Generation: Collected Nonfiction — William Styron; James L.W. I West II, ed. (Random House)
- The Book of Stone — Jonathan Papernick (Fig Tree Books)
June
- Hotel Moscow: A Novel — Talia Carner (William Morrow) — Visiting Scribe the week of June 2nd, plus read more of Talia Carner’s work here.
- Saint Mazie: A Novel — Jami Attenberg (Grand Central Publishing) — while you’re waiting, check out Jami Attenberg’s The Middlesteins.
- The Pinch: A Novel - Steve Stern (Graywolf Press) — find a Steve Stern reading list here.
- Journey to My Father, Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Memoir — Israel Zamir; Barbara Harshav, trans. (Arcade Publishing)
- Henry Morgenthau, Jr.: The Remarkable Life of FDR’s Secretary of the Treasury — Herbert Levy (Skyhorse Publishing)
- Leo Strauss on the Borders of Judaism, Philosophy, and History — Jeffrey A. Bernstein (SUNY Press)
- The Bible on Location: Off the Beaten Path in Ancient and Modern Israel — Julie Baretz (The Jewish Publication Society)
- Safekeeping — Jessamyn Hope (Fig Tree Books)
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Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Naomi is the CEO of Jewish Book Council. She graduated from Emory University with degrees in English and Art History and, in addition, studied at University College London. Prior to her role as executive director and now CEO, Naomi served as the founding editor of the JBC website and blog and managing editor of Jewish Book World. In addition, she has overseen JBC’s digital initiatives, and also developed the JBC’s Visiting Scribe series and Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation.