Book picks similar to
A Life Worth Living: A novel about looking for love and happiness in Israel by Pnina Baim
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Jerusalem, Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem
Sarah Tuttle-Singer - 2018
In the years that followed, she was terrified to explore the ancient city she so loved. But, sick of living in fear, she has now chosen to live within the Old City's walls, living in each of the four quarters: Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish. Jerusalem’s Old City is the hottest piece of spiritual real estate in the world. For millennia empires have clashed and crumbled over this place. Today, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians plays out daily in her streets, and the ancient stones run with blood. But it’s also an ordinary city, where people buy vegetables, and sooth colicky babies, where pipes break, where the pious get high, and young couples sneak away to kiss in the shadows. Sarah has thrown herself into the maelstrom of living in each quarter—where time is measured in Sabbath sunsets and morning bells and calls to prayer, in stabbing attacks and check points—keeping the holidays in each quarter, buying bread from the same bread seller, making friends with people who were once her enemies, and learning some of the secrets and sharing the stories that make Jerusalem so special, and so exquisitely ordinary. Jerusalem, Drawn and Quartered is a book for anyone who’s wondered who really lives in Israel, and how they coexist. It’s a book that skillfully weaves the personal and political, the heartwarming and the heart-stopping. It’s a book that only Sarah Tuttle-Singer can write. The Old City of Jerusalem may be set in stone, but it’s always changing—and these pages capture that.
The New Rabbi
Stephen Fried - 2002
The New RabbiThe center of this compelling chronicle is Har Zion Temple on Philadelphia’s Main Line, which for the last seventy-five years has been one of the largest and most influential congregations in America. For thirty years Rabbi Gerald Wolpe has been its spiritual leader, a brilliant sermonizer of wide renown--but now he has announced his retirement. It is the start of a remarkable nationwide search process largely unknown to the lay world--and of much more. For at this dramatic moment Wolpe agrees to give extraordinary access to Fried, inviting him--and the reader—into the intense personal and professional life of the clergy and the complex behind-the-scenes life of a major Conservative congregation. These riveting pages bring us a unique view of Judaism in practice: from Har Zion’s strong-willed leaders and influential families to the young bar and bat mitzvahs just beginning their Jewish lives; from the three-days-a-year synagogue goers to the hard core of devout attendees. We are touched by their times of joy and times of grief, intrigued by congregational politics, moved by the search for faith. We witness the conflicts between generations about issues of belief, observance, and the pressures of secular life. We meet Wolpe’s vigorous-minded ailing wife and his sons, one of whom has become a celebrity rabbi in Los Angeles. And we follow the author’s own moving search for meaning as he reconnects with the religion of his youth. We also have a front-row seat at the usually clandestine process of choosing a new rabbi, as what was expected to be a simple one-year search for Rabbi Wolpe’s successor extends to two years and then three. Dozens of résumés are rejected, a parade of prospects come to interview, the chosen successor changes his mind at the last minute, and a confrontation erupts between the synagogue and the New York–based Conservative rabbis’ “union” that governs the process. As the time comes for Wolpe to depart, a venerated house of worship is being torn apart. And thrust onto the pulpit is Wolpe’s young assistant, Rabbi Jacob Herber, in his first job out of rabbinical school, facing the nearly impossible situation of taking over despite being technically ineligible for the position--and finding himself on trial with the congregation and at odds with his mentor. Rich in anecdote and scenes of wonderful immediacy, this is a riveting book about the search for personal faith, about the tension between secular concerns and ancient tradition in affluent America, and about what Wolpe himself has called “the retail business of religion.” Stephen Fried brings all these elements to vivid life with the passion and energy of a superbly gifted storyteller.
Pastel Pink
Nikki Minty
To be born at the bottom of her race’s caste colour system to a middle-class family of Magentas has made Harlow a source of conflict amongst the ruling Purples, and a source of derision from all three colours.When Harlow is attacked by a fuegor on Zadok, the effects of its slow reacting venom triggers an unforeseen phenomenon, and due to the strong connection she had with her former twin sister Jade, her human spirit is unexpectedly drawn back to Earth.Now living a double life, she has plunged into a world of intrigue on both planets.On earth, she watches on in horror as Jade reconnects with Lucas, the man who murdered her and got away with it. And to complicate things further, she’s being pursued by Alex, the ghost of Lucas’ twin. On Zadok, she becomes embroiled with Jax, the son of the Commanding family. He’s determined to bring about change to the colony’s colour system, but it’ll come at a cost.As Harlow mixes with the political intrigue of the Zeeks, will she become a victim of those trying to rigidly maintain the status quo or will she usher in a revolution?And will ghost Ruby resist the temptation of the handsome Alex or pursue an impossible relationship that could have dire consequences on both planets?
Knight School
Andrew Mayne - 2013
To win, they have to battle for control of the forest and obey a code of conduct to keep their war from spilling into the outside world.The woods between the schools are filled with dangers and dark secrets. Central among them is Venn Maddox, the youngest student to ever lead a clan in the game. Brilliant and manipulative, some think he’s a sociopath who may have killed to protect his own secrets.New kid, Marv Whitlock, already dealing with his own troubles, finds himself in the middle of the decade old conflict and has to use his wits to avoid being one more pawn.Bestselling author Andrew Mayne, brings you Knight School, an adventurous cross of Friday Night Lights and Game of Thrones.
In the Neighborhood of True
Susan Kaplan Carlton - 2019
In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.Does it matter that Ruth’s mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.
Christmas of the Vampire
P.S. Power - 2012
Frosty the Snowman. A Christmas Carol.In each generation a story is born that shapes the minds of millions.When Richard Swerlin, The United States only openly Vampire Congressman, receives a letter from a little girl, he really wants to ignore it. After all, five year old kids don't vote, and only a few of the words are legible at all. No one would blame him for setting it aside.Except that the letter has a few things only might recognize. The words "help" for instance as well as, "Greater Demon", and a scent of pure fear.A Vampire is no match for a Greater Demon though, so he has to turn to the one being that might aid him in this task. The Mistress of Souls. The most feared Greater Demon of them all.Now Richard and a ragtag group of unusual characters must seek to not only save little Maci, but Santa Claus himself, and if they fail, it isn't just an orphaned child that dies, but the spirit of the season.
Aqua Eyes
Alexandra Marie
Who could be better suited for the position than her best friend Reece? The two of them have been inseparable since they first met, moving in together isn't such a big deal. But both of them have a secret that they're keeping, and the close quarters make it harder to keep those secrets hidden inside. Faye's done something she wasn't supposed to, and now she's afraid that she's waited too long to be forgiven.Reece is in love with someone who doesn't love him back. And she now lives down the hall.
All Gone to Look for America: Riding the Iron Horse Across a Continent (and Back)
Peter Millar - 2009
With a shoestring budget, a backpack and an open mind, Millar followed the railroad, watching the vast American landscape and listening to the stories and concerns of the people.
Collapse
R.J. Infantino - 2016
Thrust into a conspiracy that is centuries old, he can choose to run or stand up and fight. After an earthquake cuts the school off from the rest of the world, Chase has to figure out who’s a friend, who’s an enemy, and if there’s really any difference at all. As the world starts to collapse, trusting the wrong person can have deadly consequences. Caught between his classmates and the professors’ schemes, he can’t afford to choose wrong. It would all be a lot easier if Taylor and Maya weren’t pulling him in opposite directions.Is it really the apocalypse? Or is it something much worse?
Mimi And Her Mirror
Uyen Nicole Duong - 2011
When her firm becomes embroiled in what could be an international scandal around a key client and Brad begins asking questions about her past, an overwhelmed Mimi begins to sink into emotional chaos. One glance at herself in an old mirror leads her to dig into her past and courageously relive the traumas of her childhood. Thus begins the heart of Uyen Nicole Duong’s Mimi and Her Mirror, a poetic, passionate, and sometimes chilling novel about Vietnam and a girl known as Mimi Suong Giang, whose youth was destroyed as she attempted to escape during the fall of Saigon. Readers share young Mimi's hopes, dreams and courage as she valiantly struggles to find her way into the light.
My Rebbe
Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz - 2014
During his forty years of leadership, Rabbi Schneerson transformed Chabad into a global movement marked by extensive outreach activities and a closeknit network of emissaries stationed around the world. His passionate devotion to education, social change, and acts of charity and kindness inspired countless people to embrace spirituality in their daily lives.In My Rebbe, celebrated author and thinker Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz shares his firsthand account of this extraordinary individual who shaped the landscape of twentieth-century religious life. Written with the admiration of a close disciple and the nuanced perceptiveness of a scholar, this biography-memoir inspires us to think about our own missions and aspirations for a better world.
The Red Magician
Lisa Goldstein - 1982
Eleven-year-old Kicsi believes Vörös, and attempts to aid him in protecting the village.But the local rabbi, who possesses magical powers, insists that the village is safe, and frustrates Vörös's attempts to transport them all to safety. Then the Nazis come and the world changes.Miraculously, Kicsi survives the horrors of the concentration camp and returns to her village to witness the final climactic battle between the rabbi and the Red Magician, the Old World and the New.The Red Magician is a notable work of Holocaust literature and a distinguished work of fiction, as well as a marvelously entertaining fantasy that is, in the end, wise and transcendent.
Shooting the Moon
V.M. Jones - 1958
But under the surface new currents are stirring — forces that threaten everything he believes indestructible. As events spiral out of control, Pip is brought face to face with a dramatic choice that changes his life forever as he learns what it means to confront issues of life and death alone. And in the face of ultimate loss, what matters most of all?
Radiant Days
Elizabeth Hand - 2012
Merle is in her first year at the Corcoran School of Art, catapulted from her impoverished Appalachian upbringing into a sophisticated, dissipated art scene.It is also 1870. The teenage poet Arthur Rimbaud is on the verge of breaking through to the images and voice that will make his name.The meshed power of words and art thins the boundaries between the present and the past—and allows these two troubled, brilliant artists to enter each other’s worlds.
A Matter of Mercy
Lynne Hugo - 2014
Ridley Neal put his past-and his prison term-behind him to return home to take over his father's oyster and clam beds. Casual acquaintances long ago, when a nor'easter hits the coast, Rid and Caroline's lives intersect once again. When Rid and two other sea farmers are sued by the wealthy owners of vacation homes who want to shut them down, and Caroline accidentally meets the person she most wronged, they each must learn to trust-and love. Inspired by an actual lawsuit, A Matter of Mercy is a riveting novel about treasuring the traditional way of life in the shallows of beautiful Cape Cod bay by discovering where forgiveness ends. And where it begins.