Amazing Books for Your Reading List – July 26, 2022
Read Along with Me
I am very much looking forward to the books on my list this week. There are some great books on it this week.
The first book on my list is an advanced copy of Sarah Birmbach’s upcoming memoir, A Daughter’s Kaddish. Scheduled for release in September, Birmbach explores her own experience with the Jewish traditions of mourning.
Next on my list is the second volume of Anne Lister’s diaries. I enjoy the series adaptation of her life and am looking forward to reading the second volume of her writings.
And finally, the third book on my list is one I discovered through the Bookstagram community. I’ve been seeing Fable in everyone’s feed. While I’m generally not a fan of YA literature, I’m looking forward to checking this one out.
Join the conversation! Tell me what’s on your reading list this week in the comments.
This page contains affiliate links. This means for any purchase made, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
In A Daughter’s Kaddish, Sarah Birnbach recounts her year-long odyssey through bereavement to persevere through an unfamiliar world of Jewish prayer and chart a course without a road map. A novice worshipper and single working mother, Sarah encountered many obstacles—including vehement gender-based objections to her recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish, her own daughter’s near-fatal car accident, an incident that tore her synagogue apart, and her mother’s hostility and dismissiveness.
To honor her beloved father in the year following his death, Sarah commits to saying Kaddish twice a day in synagogue for eleven months, as is stipulated by her religion. Sarah attempts to incorporate these new religious and spiritual practices into her already hectic twenty-first-century life while struggling with the heavy emotional distress of grief. As she travels the country for work, Sarah must find a synagogue where she can pray in each city and town she visits, a challenge that brings many surprises—and upsets. Throughout her year of devotion, Sarah takes comfort in the loving memories of her childhood while at the same time grappling with some very painful ones—ultimately discovering how the path of faith and grief can lead to true healing.
Join 5,500+ Followers
As a thank you for registering for our email list, you’ll receive free printable reading journal templates and a bonus 100 book reading list! Members of the email list also receive an exclusive discount code for my Etsy store: MapleStreetStudioHRS.
When Helena Whitbread first published excerpts from Anne Lister’s diary, which was written in a complicated, esoteric code, it was hailed as a lost piece of lesbian history. Whitbread has devoted years to researching and transcribing Lister’s extensive journals; the ‘crypthand’ had allowed Lister to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. It was the first time her story had been told.
Click the image to find it on Amazon
This second volume continues the story of one of the most remarkable women of her time: landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian. Anne Lister arrives in post-revolutionary Paris in 1824, attempting to recover from a doomed love affair with a married woman. There she becomes emotionally entangled with a young widow. Anne’s efforts, firstly to extricate herself from this new ‘scrape’ and then to make a choice between the two women in her life, provides an absorbing sexual and social drama.
We follow Anne Lister to Buxton, Derbyshire, where a husband appears in hot pursuit of his straying wife who has, in turn, followed Anne there; in Halifax, the Yorkshire town of Anne’s birth; to London; and to post-revolutionary Paris, a city alive with political intrigue. Anne’s descriptive powers bring each scene vividly to life, providing a brilliant, kaleidoscopic background to her story.
Submit Your Book
book for review, please visit Contact Me and complete the form. I’ll review your request and respond within 48 hours. I’m also happy to work with authors on interviews. To set up an interview, please use the same form.
Filled with all of the action, emotion, and lyrical writing that brought readers to Sky in the Deep, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with Fable, the first book in this new captivating duology.
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men.
As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.
Join 5,500+ Followers
As a thank you for registering for our email list, you’ll receive free printable reading journal templates and a bonus 100 book reading list! Members of the email list also receive an exclusive discount code for my Etsy store: MapleStreetStudioHRS.
Read Along with Me I hope you’re managing to stay cool in this crazy heat wave! My grandfather (may his memory be for a blessing) used to tell me that indoor projects should be saved for the winter, when it was too cold to be outside, in Wisconsin. I’m quickly learning, now living in the…
Read Along with Me The heatwave is finally breaking! And not a moment too soon. I was starting to go a bit crazy being cooped up in the house. Although the house is looking better and better as I’m completing painting projects, changing light fixtures. I find those kinds of projects fun. Plus, it’s finally…
Read Along with Me I am very much looking forward to my reading list this week. There are some great books on it this week. The first is a new release from Sherry V. Ostroff, Expulsion. This is a work of historical fiction set during the Spanish Inquisition. Having studied in Spain, while in college,…
Jewish Children's Books The Mitzvah of Teaching Children The Torah commands us to teach our children and with Rosh Hashanah fast approaching, so too is the start of the religious school year in many synagogues and temples. As a teacher myself, I'm also preparing for the return to the classroom. I teach a group of …
April Short Story Feature One of the highlights of my tenure as a member of Toastmasters was coordinating a Murder Mystery theme meeting. Keeping members engaged and motivated to continue working toward their goals can be a challenge. So in an effort to liven things up a bit, I worked with a few other members …
Attention writers! This month's short story contest theme is: A Short Story Inspired by Your Career Entries must be received by midnight April 24th, cst. Selected stories will be featured during the month of October. Read on for further guidelines. Short Story Contest Guidelines Stories are to be 1,500 to 3,000 words. All genres welcome. …
Read Along with Me This week, I'm looking forward to enjoying a pair of thrillers. The first is a spy thriller, The Man in the Corduroy Suit. Author James Wolff draws on his own experience working in the British government for this series. And my second selection, The Hand that Feeds You by Mercedes Rosende, …
Are you enjoying the interviews, book reviews, and short story features? All of this is offered at no cost to the authors I work with. Please help me keep it free by making a contribution. Thank you for your support!