A Jewish Bookshelf

The rabbi’s out this week, so we’re are doing what any self-respecting book nerds would do: geeking out about reading.

In this episode, we get into:

• Jay breaks down his “30 pages a day” habit (spoiler: it adds up to 10,000 pages a year)

• ChayaLeah confesses her Shakespeare regrets

• Jay’s system for building a daily reading habit (and why you should keep three books going at once)

• The “Chan-book-ah” book haul: Arab nationalism, Elie Wiesel, Holocaust memoirs, and Jewish prayer

• ChayaLeah’s pitch for Cultural Amnesia by Clive James and why Remains of the Day is still on her mind

• Why understanding Jewish prayer word by word is a total game changer

• Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, a book they both call the best they’ve ever read

Hopefully you’ll get some ideas for your next book from this episode.

Quote of the episode:

"I realized I was never going to be the smartest person in a room, but I could be the most well read." — Jay

All the books we mention:

• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century by Adeed Dawisha

• God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel

• Souls on Fire by Elie Wiesel

• Sages and Dreamers by Elie Wiesel

• Night by Elie Wiesel

• The Last Consolation Vanished by Zalmen Gradowski

• Hostage by Eli Sharabi

• On Killing by Dave Grossman

• Elusive Prophet: Ahad Ha’am and the Origins of Zionism by Steven Zipperstein

• As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

• Anonymous Soldiers by Bruce Hoffman

• To Pray as a Jew by Hayim Halevy Donin

• The Hour of Our Death by Philippe Ariès

• Arrows of the Dark (two volumes) by Tuvia Friling

• Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman

• The Road by Vasily Grossman

• Cultural Amnesia by Clive James

• Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

• The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris

• My Prayer (two volumes, Chabad teachings on prayer) — could not confirm Amazon listing, may need manual search

• Rebel and Statesman-The Early Years: The Life and Times of Vladimir Jabotinsky: Volume One by Joesph Schechtman

• Fighter and Prophet; The Jabotinsky Story; The Last Years by Joesph Schechtman

• The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - this is ChayaLeah’s book. Jay dissavows