Book picks similar to
So Help Me God! by Herbert Tarr
coming-of-age
conservatory
humor
jewish
The Trick
Emanuel Bergmann - 2016
Decades later, a young boy seeks out the now cynical, elderly magician in the hopes that his spells might keep his family together. Prague, 1934: The fifteen-year-old rabbi s son Moshe Goldenhirsch marvels at the legendary circus magician known as the Half-Moon Man. Unexpectedly, he falls madly in love with the magician's delightful assistant, spurring him to run away from home to join the circus, which is slowly making its way to Germany as war looms on the horizon. Soon, he becomes a world-renowned magician known as the Great Zabbatini, even sought after by Adolf Hitler. But when Moshe is discovered to be a Jew, only his special talent can save him from perishing in a concentration camp. Los Angeles, 2007: Ten-year-old Max Cohn is convinced that magic can bring his estranged parents back together before they divorce. So one night he climbs out of his bedroom window in search of the Great Zabbatini, certain this powerful magician has the power to reunite his family.
In My Mother's House
Margaret McMullan - 2003
The story of Elizabeth and her mother Jenny is remarkable for its fullness of details: the pieces of family silver the grandmother mails to Jenny, piece by piece, over the years; Jenny's vivid memories of her uncle's viola d'amore lessons; the smell of the wood floors in the family's Vienna home. It's an emotional story of what is inherited from one generation to the next.
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (Light Novel) Vol. 8
Kumanano - 2021
Unenthused about attending a rich kid's party, Yuna sets out nonetheless. On her way, she walks straight into a face full of drama: a town with not one, but two warring feudal lords! Can the Bloody Bear calm these troubled waters? Or must she pick a side to support?
The Sacrifice
Adele Wiseman - 1956
It is a moving, almost biblical story of a father possessed by his hope for his only son; of a son who rebels against his father’s ideals, yet sacrifices himself to preserve what his father most prizes; and of a grandson who must reconcile the flaws in his inheritance.
The Family Markowitz
Allegra Goodman - 1996
At the centre is Rose, the cantankerous matriarch, who longs for her earlier life in London and Vienna but is now forced into dependency on her sons Ed, an academic expert on terrorism (ahead of his time!), and Henry, an artistic expatriate with a taste for antiques and post modern poetry. Also in the family circle are Sarah, Ed's wife, who teaches creative writing and longs for a more literary life, and Sarah and Ed's daughter Miriam, a medical student who causes great alarm in her largely assimilated family by rediscovering Judaism.
Yours Mine Ours
Bridgitte Lesley - 2014
Your children. My children. And sometimes ‘ours’. Dawn and Dutch had both had it rough. Their partners had both moved on. Leaving them both thinking that they were pretty useless. In everything including the bedroom duties. Which really was not the case. It was a Sunday afternoon when Dawn had taken her family out to lunch that she met Dutch. Dutch was with his family doing the karaoke. At a little pub come restaurant. Dawn became the star performer but soon had to run off. Soon enough Dutch and Dawn started dating. They weren’t youngsters. But the feelings coursing through their bodies were both new and strange. They hadn’t lived their lives when they should have. They had one tiny little tiff which provoked the little jealous monster. But it soon blew over. Dutch’ family soon became Dawn’s. Dawn’s family admired Dutch. It ended up as ours. A chuckle awaits you! Enjoy!
My Name Is Asher Lev
Chaim Potok - 1972
Asher Lev is an artist who is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels even when it leads him to blasphemy. In this stirring and often visionary novel, Chaim Potok traces Asher’s passage between these two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to the imagination.Asher Lev grows up in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn, a world suffused by ritual and revolving around a charismatic Rebbe. But in time his gift threatens to estrange him from that world and the parents he adores. As it follows his struggle, My Name Is Asher Lev becomes a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic.
The Life of Captain Reilly 1
J.T. O'Neil - 2011
Fatigued from overwork and dismayed by relentless cost cutting, Captain Reilly finds himself developing an unhelpful aversion to the very people who pay his salary: passengers and managers.Riding aboard a typical flight, we follow John Reilly as he struggles with the challenges facing today’s airline pilot: trying to stay awake, keeping crew food down, fending off flirtatious cabin crew and completing the crossword before landing.The Life of Captain Reilly is a shocking but hilarious tale of the low cost airline, and reveals its great secret: glamour doesn’t fly anymore.PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A ROMANTICIZED PERCEPTION OF AIRLINE PILOTS AND COMMERCIAL AVIATION -- AND YOU WISH TO KEEP IT -- DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!ALSO, THIS IS QUITE A SHORT BOOK.
BILLOO AND COCONUT TREE
Pran Kumar Sharma - 2016
Thus he created a boy with a long hair covering his eyes and named him BILLOO. This lanky was liked by the readers so much that the editor of the magazine asked the cartoonist to increase the episodes from one page to two. Billoo is seen roaming the streets with his pet pup - Moti. When he is at home, he is stuck to the TV.Billoo and his gang which includes Gabdu, Jozi, Mono, Bishamber etc; are at loggerheads with Bajarangi, the wrestler and his aide Dhakkan. They are always in search of some excuse to showdown each other. Jozi is friendly to Billoo, but her dad Colonel Three - not - Three doesnot like the boy and always points his gun at him. Billoo and his friends are often seen playing cricket in lanes of the block, and their score is few smashed windows.
A New Jersey Love Story 3: Bulletproof Love
Myiesha - 2016
That is when it comes to the elusive Kitty. Once again, Kitty has managed to slip out of Camilla’s grasp. This time leaving two people, that Troy and Camilla love, fighting for their lives. Still not convinced that she has gotten her revenge for Supreme and with her partner in crime, Keyonna dead, Kitty manipulates herself a new partner who also has a score to settle with Troy and Camilla. What’s a Bonnie without her Clyde? While maintaining her home, running her daycare and finishing school, Camilla is out for blood on her one woman warpath. Convinced that the hospital has become her second home, she’s determined to protect all those she care about and take down all who has chosen to become an enemy. With her new sadistic ways of torture Camilla is proving why she’s not the one to mess with. Sometimes less is more even when it comes to family. With his family growing by the minute Troy mistakenly lets his guard down and is now forced to deal with the consequences. Troy has tried to leave the killing in the past but with his family always being a target shit might just have to get ugly one last time. Not feeling his wife acting like a lone ranger, Troy has made it his business to never be too far away. The love this duo have for each other and their family has been tested many times and has proved to be Bulletproof.
The Imperfect Bride - A Romantic Comedy
Rubina Ramesh - 2021
She didn't want to marry the man rejected by her sister and she didn't want to go to the USA when her heart was set on going to London. But still, she gave in and did all of them. So she wanted to take one decision that was entirely hers. She wanted to divorce Kabir and go back to her village, Toosa. She does go back to Toosa, but her heart remains in Seattle, with Kabir.Kabir was engaged to one sister and now married to the other one. There is nothing he doesn't know about Ruchika. She is his best friend from first grade. He knows how utterly selfish, bird-brained, and irresponsible she is. He can’t trust her to make an omelet without burning the house down, let alone live with him in Seattle, without her family. But more than anything else, he refuses to be the second-best man in her life. So, if it was a divorce she wanted, he would damn well give her one.But could she please leave his heart behind?You do remember Nikki's sister Ruchika, don't you, from The Confused Bridegroom? Well, you guys said that she deserved a love story. You asked, and my imagination got its wings.
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation
Simone Elkeles - 2006
That black dress Jessica has is really awesome. I know I’d be selling out if I go with the Sperm Donor to a mall, but I keep thinking about all the great stuff I could bring back home. Unfortunately for 16-year-old Amy Nelson, “moshav” is not Hebrew for “shopping mall.” Not even close. Think goats, not Gucci. Going to Israel with her estranged Israeli father is the last thing Amy wants to do this summer. She’s got a serious grudge against her dad, a.k.a. “Sperm Donor,” for showing up so rarely in her life. Now he’s dragging her to a war zone to meet a family she’s never known, where she’ll probably be drafted into the army. At the very least, she’ll be stuck in a house with no AC and only one bathroom for seven people all summer—no best friend, no boyfriend, no shopping, no cell phone… Goodbye pride—hello Israel.
Foreskin's Lament
Shalom Auslander - 2007
Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find his way to a life where he didn't struggle against God daily. "Foreskin's Lament" reveals Auslander's youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. Auslander remembers his youthful attempt to win the "blessing bee" (the Orthodox version of a spelling bee), his exile to an Orthodox-style reform school in Israel after he's caught shoplifting Union Bay jeans from the mall, and his fourteen mile hike to watch the New York Rangers play in Madison Square Garden without violating the Sabbath. Throughout, Auslander struggles to understand God and His complicated, often contradictory laws. He tries to negotiate with God and His representatives-a day of sin-free living for a day of indulgence, a blessing for each profanity. But ultimately, Shalom settles for a peaceful cease-fire, a standoff with God, and accepts the very slim remaining hope that his newborn son might live free of guilt, doubt, and struggle. Auslander's combination of unrelenting humor and anger--one that draws comparisons to memoirists David Sedaris and Dave Eggers--renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith, family, and community.
Jawai_Bapunchya_Goshti (Marathi)
D.M. Mirasdar - 1905
But that was not so about his wit. At times, he behaved as if he had no sense or common knowledge at all. Finally, after a long long wait, he gets married. He gets an invitation from his in-laws place especially for the celebration of Diwali. His father warned him before leaving that he had to behave properly at his in-laws house as he is no more just anybody. On the contrary, he is now their son-in-law. So he must show attitude while being at their place.What happens then……………?