Book Groups
All meetings are in the community meeting room of the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Avenue, Evanston at 7pm
To register and obtain a copy of the book for checkout,
please see Reader's Services in the Browsing Room of the Evanston Public Library
or call 847-866-0310.
Monday, September 24 - Ruth Wisse, Jews and Power
An examination of the Jewish relationship to power from King David to the Oslo Accords to more recent confrontations between Israel and the Arab world. Ruth Wisse, a professor of Yiddish Literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard, looks at how Jews have often tried to make a virtue out of powerlessness, while their enemies have exaggerated and demonized Jewish power.
Thursday, October 11 - Michael Chabon, Yiddish Policemen's Union
The latest novel by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Based on historical speculation: what if, as Franklin Roosevelt proposed on the eve of World War II, a temporary Jewish settlement had been established on the Alaska panhandle? Set in present day Alaska, this old fashioned noir thriller follows detective Meyer Landsman as he attempts to uncover a murder mystery among Alaska's "frozen chosen."
Thursday, November 15 - Laurel Leff, "Buried by the Times" The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper
An in-depth look at how The New York Times failed in its coverage of the fate of European Jews from 1939–1945. Journalist Laurel Leff uncovers how decisions made at The Times and the assimilationist tendencies of its Jewish publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, ultimately resulted in the minimizing and misunderstanding of modern history's worst genocide.
Thursday, December 20 - Emuna Elon, If You Awaken Love
When a Tel Aviv interior designer finds out that her newly religious daughter is engaged to be married to the son of the former love of her life, the past comes back to haunt her. West Bank resident Emuna Elon creates a vivid portrait of the Israeli religious minority set between the Six Days' War and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
Thursday, January 17 - Steven Nadler, Rembrandt's Jews
This elegantly written and engrossing tour of 17th century Jewish Amsterdam examines the legend and the reality of Rembrandt's relationship to Jews and Judaism. Through a closer look at Rembrandt's artwork, a discussion of the intellectual and social life during the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the author's own undercover travels, Nadler takes the reader through Jewish Amsterdam then and now.
Thursday, February 21 - Sara Paretsky, Writing in an Age of Silence
Fans of bestselling mystery writer Sara Paretsky, whose female private eye VI Warshawski stakes out the mean streets of Chicago, will not be disappointed by this intimate and revealing memoir. Here Paretsky paints a moving portrait of herself, sketching her conjoined lives as an artist and activist who cut her political teeth on the civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s. This slim volume covers a lot of ground, including details about Paretsky's Jewish background.
Thursday, March 13 - Maggie Anton, Rashi's Daughters, Book 1:Joheved
The first book in a series of a three-volume family saga depicting the fascinating lives of the 11th century Biblical commentator, Rashi, and his three daughters, Joheved, Miriam and Rachel. Scholars in their own right, Joched, in particular, was very rebellious against the restrictions placed upon women in those days.
Thursday, May 15 - Edeet Ravel, Ten Thousand Lovers
A novel set in Israel in the 1970s, it tells the story of two lovers, Lily, an emigrant student exploring the wonders and terrors of Israel, and Ami, the Israeli former actor who captures her heart. Ami has only one flaw: he is an army interrogator. As Ami and Lily's unexpected passion grows, so too does the shadow that hangs over them.
A Sensitive Issue
The Good Book
Close-Up
What Happened to Mary Berg?
Forbidden Fruit