Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of books and literature, including both non-fictional and fictional works.
Books
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Books A thriller from Mexico and a debut detective novel: The Jewish books you need to know this month
Welcome to your monthly tour of the Jewish literary landscape! I have four new titles to share and a special announcement — we just launched our Bookshop storefront, where you can shop the books recommended in this newsletter. I’ll be keeping the page updated with titles I’m loving, Forward Book Club picks, and other fun…
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Books Celebrate Nowruz with these books by Iranian Jewish women
There’s a long history of women writing as a feminist act. For someone to declare the social value of their experiences — either through fiction, or in memoir, written with a strong “I” — is almost inherently activist. For Iranian Jewish women, who come from a culture that doesn’t always encourage their expression, literature can…
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Books In new book, former AG Bill Barr praises Jared Kushner’s knack for navigating Trump chaos
Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, said early in the 2020 presidential race that Trump’s erratic and contentious behavior would lead to defeat, former Attorney General Bill Barr writes in his memoir, to be released Tuesday. “As they say, there is only one man who can beat Donald Trump and his…
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Books What happens when a New York kvetcher meets modern-day kitsch?
It is hard to imagine Rabbi Akiva eating lime Jell-O, Maimonides living in a trailer park, or Martin Buber twirling a baton. These are all, according to the famous mid-century comedian Lenny Bruce, quintessentially goyish activities. I.B. Singer is more likely to have slathered his cream cheese on pumpernickel than white bread. Bruce defined Jewishness…
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Books A Hasidic village in New York is paving the way for a ‘white, Christian, conservative’ America
Years ago, friends of mine visited the Satmar village of Kiryas Joel, established in 1977 in upstate New York. “It was amazing,” one of them said of the streets and shops filled with men and women in traditional black clothing. “Literally everyone was Hasidic. It was like visiting Eastern Europe a century ago.” Actually, I…
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Books Hear classic Yiddish writers read their works, accompanied by translations
An audio recording of 12 Yiddish writers reading their works, accompanied by English translations, is now available. The recording can be ordered either as a digital download or as two CDs (or both), and comes with a book that includes the readings in Yiddish and in English, as well as a biography of each writer…
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Books Her Bronx Jewish characters ‘hate history’ — and are finally back on bookshelves
Around two years ago, Johanna Kaplan learned, out of the blue, that HarperCollins was interested in reissuing a short story collection she had originally published all the way back in 1975. “It’s a marvelous, marvelous, amazing thing to be happening to me at this age,” said Kaplan, 79. When the collection debuted, under the title…
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Books No, Anne Frank’s diary would not be an adequate replacement for ‘Maus’ in Tennessee schools
It would seem counterintuitive that a graphic novel featuring mice and cats as Jews and Nazis would be a more effective Holocaust teaching tool than the diary of a young girl who died in Bergen-Belsen. Yet, after a Tennessee school district unanimously voted to ban Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” from its eighth grade curriculum due to…
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