Sue’s Bookshelf

Charlotte Jewish News October 2021

Moses? Elie Wiesel? Herman Wouk? Anne Frank?

These are some of the responses I’ve received when I’ve asked, “Which three Jewish writers, dead or alive, would you most like to have dinner with?”

According to Ron Balson, author of “Once We Were Brothers, The Girl from Berlin,” “Eli’s Promise,” and a host of other best sellers, he would choose “Elie Wiesel for his wisdom and poignant memories, Leon Uris to discuss how he researched and created his stories, and Jake Tapper because of the clever things he would say.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum comes the response from American author and public speaker Fran Lebowitz: “None. I would never do it. My idea of a great literary dinner party is Fran, eating alone, reading a book. That’s my idea of a literary dinner party. When I eat alone, I spend a lot of time before I sit down to my meager meal choosing what to read. And I’m a lot better choosing a book than preparing a meal. And I never eat anything without reading. Ever. If I’m eating an apple, I have to get a book.”

I’ve been giving this question a great deal of thought, and even though there are myriad Jewish writers I’d like to have dinner with, I keep coming back to three: Alice Hoffman, Tova Mirvis, and Shulem Deen, and I’d like to have dinner with the three of them together. I think they would enjoy learning about each other’s life journeys and experiences, the people and events that shaped their lives, the challenges of storytelling and, most importantly, their search for their own Jewish identity.

Alice Hoffman is an American novelist whose books about women in search of their identities mix realism and the supernatural. Since the death of her grandmother, her novels have taken on more of a Jewish influence. I’m curious whether the inclusion of Judaism, found first in “The Dovekeepers” and then in “The Marriage of Opposites,” “The Museum of Extraordinary Things,” “The World That We Knew,” and most recently in “Magic Lessons,” is in part a quest for her own Jewish identity.

Tova Mirvis would be my second guest. In her own words, her books “The Ladies Auxiliary,” “The Outside World,” and “The Book of Separation,” “explore the issues of belief and doubt and the tensions between community and individuality, tradition and modernity … Those books were a way to for me to grapple with my own upbringing and life as an Orthodox Jew.” I would welcome the opportunity to learn how she has reconciled her beliefs and navigated the world after leaving Orthodox Jewry.

My third dinner guest would be Shulem Deen, author of the award-winning memoir “All Who Go Do Not Return,” an account of living within and then leaving New York’s Hasidic community. He exhibited great strength to make this change, not only leaving his community but also his children. I know he’s made a new life for himself as a writer on political and social issues, and I would be extremely interested to learn more about his personal journey.

That’s my guest list for my literary dinner party, and I’d love to hear yours. Please email me at sueb.littauer@jewishcharlotte. org, and I’ll be happy to share your “guest lists” in my next column.