Sue's Bookshelf

Charlotte Jewish News, December, 2024

By Sue Littauer

It seems like December is the month to review the highs and lows of the last year. As far as the Center for Jewish Education Book Club goes, it’s definitely been a year of “highs.” Each of the 11 books we read were home runs, and four of our meetings were joined over Zoom by the authors themselves! We started the year by welcoming back A.J. Sidransky to discuss his book “Incident at San Miguel,” an intriguing historical fiction novel about the Cuban Revolution and the enduring love of a family with opposing political views. A.J. Sidransky’s previous novels, beginning with “The Interpreter,” are well-written page-turners.

Our second guest author was Laurie Frankel, whose novel “Family Family” lived up to the high expectations of readers of her previous novel, “This Is How It Always Is.” Laurie Frankel was an absolute delight, answering our questions and providing insight into her writing style and process. She shared information about her favorite books and authors, which we will follow up on in 2025. One thing you should know about Laurie Frankel is that she loves to make and eat soup!

In October, we were joined by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Israeli author of “Waking Lions,” “The Liar,” and “The Wolf Hunt.” Ms. Gunder-Goshen is a brilliant novelist whose multi-layered books rank among the best I have read. She walked us through the book’s themes and what inspired her to write this contemporary, thought-provoking novel, which provided much discussion following her talk.

As I’m sure you must realize, my articles are written about five weeks before publication. Therefore, while we were joined by established artist and debut author Matthew Daub, whose novel “Leaving Eastern Parkway” was our November selection, the meeting took place after this writing. It is interesting, though, that Mr. Daub contacted me on Facebook after he saw a comment I posted about our November selection. He volunteered to join us over Zoom, and we set it up. I was very taken with the book, summed up by Amazon as “Brooklyn’s Hasidic community of Lubavitchers is turned upside down when family tragedy strikes and everyday life changes forever in the life of (talented handball player teen) Zev Altshul.”

All of the books mentioned thus far are available in hardback and Kindle versions at the Center for Jewish Education’s Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and Blumenthal Educator’s Resource Center.

We will begin the 2025 Book Club schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 10:30 a.m. We will be joined over Zoom by author Zibby Owens, who will lead our discussion of her book “Blank: A Novel.” Rather than joining on Zoom from our home computers, we will gather together at the library. If you are unable to join us physically, please contact me at sueb.littauer@jewishcharlotte.org, and I will send you the link.

If you’d like to become a member of the Center for Jewish Education Book Club, please stop by the library to register, or contact me. It is open to all members of the Jewish community.