Ann Arbor Chapter of ORT America
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 The ORT Book Group is open to all women who are members of ORT America.

The group is convening via zoom at this time. Members are asked to pay a $25 fee to belong.

Checks for book group membership should be sent to Hanna Goodstein, 635 Ridgewood Ct., Ann Arbor 48103 for this new year now.

For more information, write Gretta Spier at a2gretta@mac.com.

​All dates are Wednesdays at 7:30 unless otherwise noted.

If we revert to in-person meetings, members will be notified by email,
​but the information will be posted here as well


BOOKS and DATES for 2022-23

​September 14:

People Love Dead Jews Dara Horn (NF: 272 pages) - BDL

October 19: 
Boston Girl Anita Diamant (fiction: 336 pages) - LS

November 16: Cancelled - Enjoy the A2 Jewish Book Fair
The House of Fragile Things James McAuley (NF: 323 pages) - HG

December 21: 
Left on Tenth: A Second Chance on Life Delia Ephron (memoir: 304 pages) – MS

January 18: 
The Strange Case of Dr. Courney: How a Mysterious European Showman 
            Saved Thousands of American Babies Dawn Raffel (NF: 304 pages) – SH

February 15: 
Prison Minyan Jonathan Stone (fiction: 288 pages) – EL
 

March 15: 
Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis  
            and Returned with the US Army to Fight Hitler Bruce Henderson 
            (NF: 374 pages + notes) – SWH
 

April 19: 
The Empathy Diaries Sherry Turkle (memoir: 348) – SIS

May 17: 
Uprooted: How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World 
            Vanished Overnight Lyn Julius (NF: 368 pages) – NH

June 21: 
Eternal Life Dara Horn (Fiction: 256) – AHW

June 28: Book Selection for 2023-24

 
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Book Selections 2021-22
 
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson {477 pp) Non-fiction
 
Being Heumann
Judith Heumann  (232 pp)  memoir
 
The Lost Shtetl
Max Gross  (416 pp)  fiction
 
Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR
Linda Napoli  (340 pp)  non-fiction
 
The Color of Love
Marra Gad  (256 pp)  memoir
 
House on Endless Waters
Emuna Elon  (310 pp)  fiction
 
Concealed
Esther Amini  (310 pp)  memoir
 
The Book of Lost Names
Kristin Harmel  (400 pp)  fiction
 
The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China
Jonathan Kaufman  (384 pp)  non-fiction
 
My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner
Meir Shalev  (224)  memoir
 
Feast Your Eyes
Myla Goldberg  (336 pp)  fiction
 

Books from 2020-21

Flight Portfolio  (576 pp)  fiction
Julie Orringer

A Backpack, a Bear and Eight Crates of Vodka  (307 pp)  memoir
Lev Golinkin 
 
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza  (286 pp)  nonfiction
Adina Hoffman/Peter Cole 
 
Rabbits for Food  (384 pp) fiction
Binnie Kirshenbaum
 
When Time Stopped  (336 pp)  memoir
Ariana Neumann
 
Antisemitism: Here and Now  (304 pp) nonfiction
Deborah Lipstadt
 
Apeirogon  (463 pp) fiction
Colum McCann
 
The First Mrs. Rothchild   (484 pp)  historical fiction
Sara Aharoni
 
The Sun and her Stars: 
Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood 
Donna Rifkind  (560 pp)  biography
 
The Last Watchman of Old Cairo  (288 pp)  fiction
Michael D. Lukas
 
After a Long Silence   (368 pp)  memoir
Helen Fremont
 
Three books were tied for substitute, one in each category:  memoir, non-fiction, and fiction. If we have to replace a title,
we will choose whatever is in the same category, a memoir for a memoir, etc. 
 
The three were 
 
Waking Lions  (409 pp) fiction
Ayelet Gunder Goshen 
 
Kafka’s Last Trial: The Case of Literary Legacy (288 pp) non-fiction
Benjamin Balint 
 
Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
Abby Stein  (272 pp) memoir
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2019-20 Books
 
Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic
Daniel Mendelsohn (322 pages)
 
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love
Dani Shapiro (272 pages)
 
Gateway to the Moon: A Novel
Mary Morris (352 pages)
 
Memento Park
Mark Sarvas (288 pages)
 
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbors
Yossi Klein Halevi (288 pages)
 
The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel
Marie Benedict (256 pages)
 
Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom
Ariel Burger (288 pages)
 
​Mrs. Everything
Jennifer Weiner 
 
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir
Ruth Reichl (266 pages)

Hard Cider
Barbara Stark-Nemon
 
 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
2018-19 Books 

The Weight of Ink
Rachel Kadish
    
Shores Beyond Shores (mem) 290 pages
Irene Butter

         
This Is How It Always Is (F) 336 pages
Laurie Frankel

     
Quiet (NF) 333 pages
Susan Cain

          
Paris In the Present Tense (F) 400 pages

Mark Helprin
      
All the Single Ladies (NF) 368 pages

Rebecca Traister
           
American Pastoral (F) 422 pages

Phillip Roth
              
All Who Go Do Not Return (mem) 310
Shalom Deen

               
Call It Sleep (F) 462 pages
Henry Roth

              
Reporter: A Memoir  (mem) 368 pages
Seymour Hersh


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2017-18

Safekeeping (371) fiction
Jessamyn Hope

​Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World
(442) Biography
Linda Hirschman

The Lover (368) non-fiction
A.B. Yehoshua

Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide (432) non-fiction/memoir
Michael B. Oren

A Replacement Life (352) fiction
Boris Fishman

Faithful (258) fiction
Alice Hoffman

The Bridge Ladies (320) memoir
Betsy Lerner

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me (240) memoir
Jennifer Teege
​

Norwegian by Night (290) fiction
Derek Miller

2016-17  

The Golem and The Jinni (512 pages) fiction
Helene Wecker
 
Paper Love (400 pages) memoir
Sarah Wildman
 
The Muralist (352 pages) fiction
B.A. Shapiro
 
A Judgement in Stone (188 pages) fiction
Ruth Rendell
 
Marriage of Opposites (371 pages) fiction
Alice Hoffman
 
No meeting
See Eastern Michigan Jewish Studies Speaker Series

 
Like Dreamers:
The Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem in the Six Day War (320 pages) non-fiction
Yossi Klein Halevi

Between Friends (208 pages) fiction
Amos Oz
 
Alligator Candy (243 pages) memoir
David Kushner
 
Traveling Heavy: A Memoir In Between Journeys (248) memoir
Ruth Behar

The Bridge Ladies (320) memoir
Betsy Lerner
 

​Looking Back Over More Than a Decade of Good Reads

2015-16 

A Guide for the Perplexed (368 pages)
Dara Horn 

Even In Darkness (217 pages)
Barbara Stark-Nemon (including a conversation with the author)

Frank (400 pages)
Barney Frank
 
Jewish Luck: A True Story of Friendship, Deception and Risky Business (386 pages)
Leslie Levine Adler and Meryll Levine Page

Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror,
Betrayal, Politically Unthinkable Choices (265 pages)
Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin

All I Love and Know (422 pages) 
Judith Frank
 
On the Move (397 pages)
Oliver Sacks

Henna House (320 pages)
Nomi Eve

Lincoln and the Jews: A History (288 pages)
Jonathan Sarna


2014-15

Telegraph Avenue - Michael Chabon

One More River - Mary Glickman

My Son’s Story - Nadine Gordimer

Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement - Sarah Erdreich

*The Family - David Laskin

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman - Eve Harris

A Pigeon and a Boy - Meir Shalev

My Promised Land - Ari Shavit

The Baroness - Hannah Rothschild

Summer
A Guide for the Perplexed - Dara Horn


2013-14

How This Night Is Different: Stories - Elisa Albert

An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba - Ruth Behar

Grand River and Joy - Susan Messner

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein - Julie Salamon

The Art Forger - Barbara Shapiro

The Aleppo Codex: 
In Pursuit of One of the World’s Most Coveted, Sacred and Mysterious Books - Matti Friedman

City of Thieves - David Benioff

The Lady in Gold: 
The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer - Anne Marie O’Connor

The Fortune Teller’s Kiss - Brenda Serotte


2012-13

*The Invisible Bridge - Julie Orringer

The Lost Wife - Alyson Richman

*The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage - Loolwa Khazzoom

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin - Erik Larson

Day after Night - Anita Diamant

July’s People - Nadine Gordimer

Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War - Madeline Albright

*Second Person Singular - Sayed Sashua


2011-12

Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter – Peter Manseau



Emancipation: How Liberating Europe’s Jews from the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance - Michael Goldfarb

The History of Love - Nicole Kraus

The Rembrandt Affair – Daniel Silva

The Geography of Bliss – Eric Weiner

The Last Ember – Daniel Levin

The Glass Room – Simon Mawer

The Submission – Amy Waldman

The Legacy of False Promise – Margaret Fuchs Singer


2010-2011 

The Girls from Ames - Jeffrey Zaslow

The Clothes on Their Backs - Linda Grant

Annie’s Ghosts - Steven Luxenberg

If You Awaken Love - Emuna Elon

Skeletons at the Feast - Chris Bohjalian

Paradise New York - Eileen Pollack

Ester and Ruzya - Masha Gessen

Sarah’s Key - Tatiana de Rosnay

The ZooKeeper’s Wife - Diane Ackerman

My Jesus Year - Benjamin Cohen


2009-2010 

People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks

Away – Amy Bloom

My Father’s Paradise – Ariel Sabar

The Avengers – Rich Cohen

Hypocrite in a Pooffy White Dress – Susan Jane Gilman

Queen of the Road – Doreen Orion

The Girl from Foreign – Sadia Shepard

The Woman Who Can’t Forget – Jill Price

All Other Nights – Dara Horn


 2008-2009

Asking for a Convertible – Danit Brown

Yiddish Policemen’s Union - Michael Chabon

*When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa - Peter Godwin

*All But My Life - Gerda Weissmann Klein
 
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East - Sandy Tolin
 
Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China - Ursula Bacon
 
Sotah - Naomi Ragen

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World - Lucette Lagnado
 
The Genizah at the House of Shepher - Tamar Yellin

The Dream: A Memoir - Harry Bernstein
 
The Septembers of Shiraz - Dalia Sofer



 2007-2008

*Rashi’s Daughter: Book I: Jocheved - Maggie Anton

*Thread Of Grace - Mary Doria Russell
 
Yiddish Policemen’s Union - Michael Chabon
 
Kabbalah: A Love Story - Lawrence Kushner
 
*GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation - Deborah Dash Moore
 
The Autobiography of God: A Novel - Julius Lester
 
*The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers - Harry Bernstein
 
Disobedience: A Novel - Naomi Alderman
 
Mystery Midrash – edited Lev Raphael
 
*The Book Thief - Markus Zusak



 2006-2007
 
Love and Other Pursuits – Ayelet Waldman


Joy Comes in the Morning – Jonathan Rosen
 

Looking for Lost Bird:  A Jewish Woman Discovers her Navajo Roots – Yvette D. Melanson
 

Postville:  A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America – Stephen G. Bloom
 

Miriam’s Kitchen – Elizabeth Erlich
 

Martyr’s Crossing – Amy Wilentz
 

*Naked in the Promised Land – Lillian Faderman
 

Number Our Days:  
A Triumph of Continuity and Culture Among Jewish Old People in an Urban Ghetto – Barbara Meyerhoff
 

A Tale of Love and Darkness – Amos Oz



 2005-2006

Wedding Song:  Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman – Farideh Goldin

 
Murder on a Kibbutz – Batya Gur

 
Jubana: The Awkwardly True and Dazzllng Adventures of a Jewish Cubana Goddess – Gigi Anders

 
Devil in the Details – Jennifer Traig

 
Much Ado About Jesse Kaplan – Paula Marantz Kaplan

 
How to Breathe Underwater – Julie Orringer

 
Love Song:  Becoming a Jew – Julius Lester

 
*The Escape Artist – Judith Katz

 
The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman

 
Omaha Blues – Joseph Lelyveld



 2004-2005
 
The Nazi Officer’s Wife:  How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust – Edith Hahn Beer

 
The View from Stalin’s Head – Aaron Hamburger

 
Out of Egypt – Andre Aciman

 
Human Parts – Orly Castel-Bloom

 
*In My Brother’s Image:  Twin Brothers Separated by Faith After the Holocaust – Eugene Pogany

 
Dakota Diaspora:  Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader – Sophie Trupin

 
*The Inextinguishable Symphony:  A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi German – Martin Goldsmith


Jane Austen in Boca:  A Novel – Paula Marantz Cohen


There are Jews in My House – Lara Vapnyar



 2003-2004

Three Daughters – Letty Cottin Pogrebin


Nine Parts of Desire – Geraldine Brooks
 

Displaced Persons – Joseph Berger
 

The Same Sea – Amos Oz
 

The New Rabbi – Stephen Fried
 

*Beyond Hitler’s Grasp:  The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria’s Jews – Michael Bar-Zohar
 

In the Image – Dara Horn
 

Lost in America:  A Journey With My Father – Sherwin B. Nuland
 

*Rochelle Krich mysteries – read one, read them all!



 2002-2003

Gone to Soldiers – Marge Piercy

 
Boychicks in the Hood:  Travels in the Hasidic Underground – Robert Eisenberg

 
*The Color of Water – James Mc Bride

 
*Rachel Calof’s Story:  Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plans – Rachel Calof

 
*The Reader – Bernhard Schlink

 
Tessie and Pearlie:  A Granddaughter’s Story – Joy Horowitz
 

The Mezzuzah in the Madonna’s Foot:  Marranos and Other Secret Jews:  A Woman Discovers Her Spiritual Heritage – Trudi Alexy

 
Turbulent Souls:  A Catholic Son’s Return to His Jewish Family - Stephen Dubner

 
Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels

 
Good Harbor – Anita Diamant

 
Around Sarah’s Table:  Ten Hasidic Women Share Their Stories of Life, Faith, and Tradition – Ruth Zakutinsky



2001-2002

 
*Bread Givers – Anzia Yezierska
 

All Rivers Run to the Sea:  Memoirs -  Elie Wiesel

 
*The Jew Store – Stella Suberman


*From Beirut to Jerusalem – Thomas Friedman

 
Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith – Gina Barkhordar Nahai


In the Memory of the Forest – Charles Powers


Bee Season – Myla Goldberg

 
Coming Home to Jerusalem – Wendy Orange

 
When I Lived in Modern Times – Linda Grant


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