If you’ve been following this blog, you’ve probably guessed that I’m an advocate for books (and Jewish books) of all kinds – history, philosophy, Bible studies.  But, at the end of the day, my absolute favorite books are novels.  For me, fiction is where it’s at.  There’s nothing better than curling up on a comfy couch with a mug of hot peppermint tea and an engrossing novel…  So of course, this book recommendations series wouldn’t be complete without a list of good Jewish novels!  I decided to turn to Josh Lambert, author of American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide, to provide us with a list of great books.

When it comes to Jewish fiction, Lambert definitely knows his stuff.  He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard in English literature, and is currently finishing up his doctorate degree in English literature at the University of Michigan.  In addition to writing the JPS Guide to 125 classic works of American Jewish novels and story collections, Lambert has served as the editor of JBooks.com, and has contributed book reviews and essays to the Forward, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Jerusalem Post, and other print and online news outlets.  In the fall, he will be starting as a Faculty Fellow in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University.

Lambert decided to recommend not just any Jewish novels, but what he calls “lost treasures of American Jewish fiction.”  Lambert writes:

As far as I can tell, the following books haven’t received as much attention from critics, scholars, or lovers of American Jewish fiction as they deserve. In some cases, like Millhauser’s and Shulman’s, the attention that the books devote to questions of Jewish identity and experience have been ignored, or even whitewashed. In others, like Caspary’s and Kaufmann’s, the books have been entirely forgotten for no good reason. Some are just fascinating, strange, wonderful books that haven’t ever risen very high on anyone’s list of reading priorities, but which I think merit, and will reward, readers’ consideration. For more information, please take a look at my guidebook, American Jewish Fiction.

1. Differences, by Nathan Mayer
2. Other Things Being Equal, by Emma Wolf
3. Arnold Levenberg, by David Pinski
4. Stephen Escott, by Ludwig Lewisohn
5. Thicker than Water, by Vera Caspary
6. Wasteland, by Jo Sinclair
7. The Amboy Dukes, by Irving Shulman
8. Remember Me to God, by Myron S. Kaufmann
9. Double or Nothing, by Raymond Federman
10. Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright, by Steven Millhauser

-Naomi