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Here is the reading list for 2024-2025:

Sunday, November 10
The Paris Library: A Novel, by Janet Skeslien Charles (Fiction, 384 pages)
An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller. Based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II, The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable “ode to the importance of libraries, books, and the human connections we find within both”. The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest places.

Sunday, January 12, 2025
My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir, by Meir Shalev (Memoir, 224 pages)
From the author of the acclaimed novel A Pigeon and a Boy comes a charming tale of family ties, over-the-top housekeeping, and the sport of storytelling in Nahalal, the village of Meir Shalev’s birth. Hilarious and touching, we meet Shalev’s amazing Grandma Tonia, who arrived in Palestine by boat from Russia in 1923 and lived in a constant state of battle with what she viewed as the family’s biggest enemy in their new land: dirt. The result, in this cheerful translation by Evan Fallenberg, is pure delight, as Shalev brings to life the obsessive but loving Tonia, the pioneers who gave his childhood its spirit of wonder, and the grit and humor of people building ever-new lives.
 
Sunday, March 16, 2025
The Choice: Embrace the Possible: A Memoir, by Dr. Edith Eva Egar (Memoir, 321 pages)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD AND CHRISTOPHER AWARD
At the age of sixteen, Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. Hours after her parents were killed, Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele, forced Edie to dance for his amusement and her survival. Edie was pulled from a pile of corpses when the American troops liberated the camps in 1945. Edie spent decades struggling with flashbacks and survivor’s guilt, determined to stay silent and hide from the past. Thirty-five years after the war ended, she returned to Auschwitz and was finally able to fully heal and forgive the one person she’d been unable to forgive—herself. Edie weaves her remarkable personal journey with the moving stories of those she has helped heal. She explores how we can be imprisoned in our own minds and shows us how to find the key to freedom. The Choice is a life-changing book that will provide hope and comfort to generations of readers.

“I’ll be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story…The Choice is a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times and that we all have the ability to pay attention to what we’ve lost, or to pay attention to what we still have.” (Oprah) “Dr. Eger’s life reveals our capacity to transcend even the greatest of horrors and to use that suffering for the benefit of others. She has found true freedom and forgiveness and shows us how we can as well.” (Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate)

Sunday, May 18, 2025
A Perfect Peace, by Amos Oz (Fiction, 384 pages)
Israel, just before the Six-Day War. On a kibbutz, the country’s founders and their children struggle to come to terms with their land and with each other. The messianic father exults in accomplishments that had once been only dreams; the son longs to establish an identity apart from his father; the fragile young wife is out of touch with reality; and the gifted and charismatic “outsider” seethes with emotion. Through the interplay of these brilliantly realized characters, Oz evokes a drama that is chillingly, strikingly universal.

Sunday, July 13, 2025
Eternal Life: A Novel, by Dara Horn (Fiction, 256 pages)
NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * BOOKLIST EDITORS’ CHOICE * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
What would it really mean to live forever? Rachel is a woman with a problem: she can’t die. Her recent troubles―widowhood, a failing business, an unemployed middle-aged son―are only the latest in a litany spanning dozens of countries, scores of marriages, and hundreds of children. Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive. (Also by Dara Horn: A Guide for the Perplexed, All Others Nights and People Love Dead Jews)

Sunday, September 15, 2024
God is Here: Reimagining the Divine, by Toba Spitzer (Non-Fiction, 304 pages)
Toba Spitzer's God Is Here is a transformative exploration of the idea of God, offering new paths to experiencing the realm of the sacred. Rabbi Toba Spitzer understands that traditional ideas of God (too big, too impersonal, too unbelievable) often get in the way. In God Is Here, Spitzer argues that whether we believe in God or fervently disbelieve, what we are actually disagreeing about is not God at all, but a metaphor of a Big Powerful Person that limits our understanding and our spiritual lives. With God Is Here, Toba Spitzer will inspire you to find new and perhaps surprising ways of encountering the divine, right where you are.