Books On My Reading List This Week

Read Along With Me

This week, I’m continuing my focus on Jewish literature. I’m still working my way through Elie Wiesel’s Night Trilogy. I should be finishing Dawn this week and moving on to Day.

The second book on my list is from my Want to Read list on Goodreads. I add recommendations, titles I learn about through my Facebook groups and Bookstagram community, and suggestions from friends. But then I find other titles and the books on my Want to Read list never seem to make it to the Currently Reading list. My Want to Read list is currently at 83 titles. And that needs to change! So this week, I’m determined to cross the first book off the list, so I’m starting with The Girl with the Silver Star by Rachel Zolotov.

How many books are on your Want to Read list? I hope you’ll add your suggestions in the comments.


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Jewish Literature

The Night Trilogy

Night is one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature. First published in 1958, it is the autobiographical account of an adolescent boy and his father in Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel writes of their battle for survival and of his battle with God for a way to understand the wanton cruelty he witnesses each day.

In the short novel Dawn (1960), a young man who has survived World War II and settled in Palestine joins a Jewish underground movement and is commanded to execute a British officer who has been taken hostage.

In Day (previously titled The Accident, 1961), Wiesel questions the limits of conscience: Can Holocaust survivors forge a new life despite their memories? Wiesel’s trilogy offers insights on mankind’s attraction to violence and on the temptation of self-destruction.

The Girl with the Silver Star by Rachel Zolotov
Click the image to find it on Amazon

As a hailstorm of bombs begins to shatter the city of Minsk in Belarus, Raisa and her family run through the darkness of night to take cover. When Raisa, Abraham, and their daughters, Luba and Sofia, emerge from the bomb shelter, they find an unfamiliar city before them; chaos and terror burn in every direction. Fearing for their lives, they must leave at once to find the rest of their family. But before they are able to escape, Abraham is conscripted into the Russian Army and the family is forced to part ways. Raisa’s love and strength are put to the ultimate test as she finds herself on her own with her two young daughters in tow. How will she manage alone without her soulmate by her side?

Relying on hope, resourcefulness and courage, they walk, hitch hike and take trains heading for Uzbekistan, over 2,500 miles from home. Along the way they run from bombs, endure starvation, and face death.

Raisa finds solace in the women around her. Her mother, sisters, old friends and new help carry her through the difficult war years, but Raisa’s longing to reunite with Abraham still rages inside her heart. Will they ever see each other again? Will Raisa and her family find their way back to their homeland?

The Girl with the Silver Star is a captivating journey through war-torn Soviet Union as it illuminates a unique part of WWII history, the female heroes. Raisa’s journey is a tribute to the nameless women, their determination, bravery, grief and unwavering love during impossible times. Their stories shouldn’t be forgotten.

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