Jewish Book Group @ the Library

The Sunday Jewish Book Group is the longest-running program at the William H. Hannon Library. Established in fall 2008 with a small grant from the American Library Association, this book discussion group brings together readers who share an interest in Jewish literature, history, and cultures. Over the past decade, the program has attracted hundreds of faculty, staff, students, and Los Angeles community members to discuss more than 75 books, films, and short stories.

The Sunday Jewish Book Group is free and open to the public. A list of upcoming sessions is available on our Events page. To see a list of what we have been reading, or for more information and to RSVP, contact Rhonda Rosen.

Previous Sunday Jewish Book Group Selections

Fall 2023 - Spring 2024

September 10, 2023: Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
October 22, 2023: Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston
November 19, 2023: Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner
February 18, 2024: The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
March 17, 2024: Bad Jews: a History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by Emily Tamkin
April 14, 2024: The House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family by Hadley Freeman

Fall 2023 - Spring 2024

September 11, 2022: Night by Elie Wiesel
October 16, 2022: Under Jerusalem: the buried history of the world's most contested city by Andrew Lawler
November 13, 2022: The Rabbi Wore a Fedora (Rabbi Daniels Mysteries) by Rabbi Arthur Gross SchaeferYiddish Women Writers - Short Stories Series
January 22, 2023: "Shadows" by Rachel Korn
February 19, 2023: "A House with Seven Windows" Kadia Molodowsky
March 19, 2023: "The 10th is Born in Mishkenot" by Ridukah Potash
June 11, 2023: "Fable of the Goat" by S.Y. Agnon

Fall 2021 - Spring 2022

August 1, 2021: Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
October 17, 2021: Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction by Eric H. Cline
November 14, 2021: Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure by Menachem Kaiser
December 5: The Great House by Nicole Krauss
February 6, 2022: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
March 13, 2022: Spies of No Country: Israel's Secret Agents at the Birth of the Mossad by Matti Friedman
April 10, 2022: People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn

Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

September 13, 2020: Miriam's Kitchen by Elizabeth Ehrlich
October 11, 2020: Belonging: a German Reckons with Home and History by Nora Krug
November 15, 2020: “The Shawl” [short story] by Cynthia Ozick
December 6, 2020: “The Loudest Voice” [short story] by Grace Paley
January 17, 2021: Snow in August by Pete Hamill
February 28, 2021: "Conversion of the Jews" [short story from Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus)
March 21, 2021: As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

Fall 2019 - Spring 2020

July 21, 2019: "Defender of the Faith" [short story] by Philip Roth
September 8, 2019: The Hare with the Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
November 3, 2019: "From Cairo to the Cloud" [film] by Michelle Paymar
December 15, 2019: The Lake on Fire by Rosellen Brown
January 19, 2020: "Jewbird" [short story] by Bernard Malamud
February 9, 2020: Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction by David N. Myers

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

October 14, 2018: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
November 4, 2018: Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
January 20, 2019: "Numbered" [film] by Uriel Sinai and Dana Doron
February 17, 2019: Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America by Steven J. Ross
March 24, 2019: The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith

Fall 2017 – Spring 2018

September 10, 2017: After Abel and Other Stories by Michal Lemberger
October 15, 2017: Hope, A Tragedy by Sholem Auslander
November 19, 2017: Henna House by Nomi Eve
December 3, 2017: "Torn" [film]
January 21, 2018: Not in God's Name by Jonathan Sacks
February 18, 2018: Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger
March 25, 2018: "Swimming In Auschwitz" [film] by Jon Kean
April 15, 2018: Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss

Fall 2016 – Spring 2017

September 11, 2016: The Archive Thief by Lisa Moses Leff
October 9, 2016: "Women Unchained" [film] directed and written by Beverly Siegel
November 6, 2016: Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling
December 4, 2016: Midrashic Mirrors: Creating Holiness with Intimacy and Imager by Debra Linesch
January 22, 2017: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit
February 26, 2017: The Fifth Son by Elie Weisel
March 26, 2017: Nine Essential Things I've Learned about Life by Harold Kushner

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016

August 23, 2015: The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David Kertez
September 20, 2015: "No. 4 Street of Our Lady" [film]
October 18, 2015: The World to Come by Dara Horn
November 15, 2015: The Paris Architect: A Novel by Charles Belfoure
January 24, 2016: "The Optimists" [film] by Jacky and Lisa Comforty
February 21, 2016: A Bride for One Night: Talmud Tales by Ruth Calderon
March 20, 2016: David: A Divided Heart by Rabbi David Wolpe
May 22, 2016: Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska

Fall 2014 – Spring 2015

August 17, 2014: Crossing Cairo: A Jewish Woman's Encounter with Egypt by Rabbi Ruth Sohn
September 14, 2014: Bearing the Body by Ehud Havazelet
November 2, 2014: "The Gatekeepers" [film] by Dror Moreh
November 16, 2014: Our Holocaust by Amir Gutfreund
January 25, 2015: Mendoza the Jew: Boxing, Manliness, and Nationalism: a graphic history by Ronald Schecter
February 11, 2015: A Replacement Life, by Boris Fishman
March 15, 2015: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
April 19, 2015: The Short, Strange Life of Hershel Grynszpan: a Boy Avenger, A Nazi Diplomat and a Murder in Paris by Jonathan Kirsch

Fall 2013 – Spring 2014

September 29, 2013: "Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness" [film]
October 20, 2013: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander
November 17, 2013: A Cross and a Star: Memoirs of a Jewish Girl in Chile by Marjorie Agosin
December 15, 2013: The Crisis of Zionism by Peter Beinart
January 26, 2014: The Crooked Mirror: A Memoir of Polish-Jewish Reconciliation by Louise Steinman
February 16, 2014: "Nicky's Family" [film] by Matej Minac
March 23, 2014: My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
April 27, 2014: The Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World's Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books by Matti Friedman

Fall 2012 – Spring 2013

September 9, 2012: Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman by Farideh Goldin
October 7, 2012: Golems of Gotham by Thane Rosenbaum
November 11, 2012: Drawing in the Dust by Rabbi Zoe Klein
December 2, 2012: The One Facing Us by Ronit Matalon
February 10, 2013: Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews by Eva Hoffman
March 17, 2013: The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
April 21, 2013: Shanghai Diary by Ursula Bacon
June 23, 2013: Rav Hisda's Daughter, Book 1: Apprentice: A Novel of Love, the Talmud, and Sorcery by Maggie Anton

Fall 2011 – Spring 2012

September 18, 2011: The Preservationist by David Maine
October 16, 2011: The Prophet's Wife by Milton Steinberg
November 13, 2011: The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
December 4, 2011: The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
January 22, 2012: Lost In Translation by Eva Hoffman
February 12, 2012: Bernhard by Yoel Hoffmann
March 18, 2012: The Lemon Tree: an Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
April 22, 2012: Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz

Fall 2010 – Spring 2011

The Five: A Novel of Jewish Life in Turn of the Century Odessa by Vladimir Jabotinsky
The Panther in the Basement by Amos Oz
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal
Water from the Well: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah by Anne Richardson
Trial of God by Elie Wiesel
Behind Enemy Lines by Marthe Cohn
Focus by Arthur Miller

Fall 2009 – Spring 2010

In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale by Amitav Ghosh
Caspian Rain: A Novel by Gina B. Nahai
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado
People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
The Centaur in the Garden by Maocyr Scliar
The Emigrants by W. G. Sebald
Wandering Stars by Sholem Aleichem
Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France by Maggie Anton

Fall 2008 – Spring 2009

A Journey to the End of the Millennium: a novel of the Middle Ages by Abraham B. Yehoshua
Red Cavalry (in The Complete Works of Isaac Babel) by I. Babel
Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Gross by Jan T.
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Mona in the Promised Land by Jen Gish
The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln by Glueckel of Hameln
Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem
Noah the Water Carrier and Other Stories by Joe Lumer
Enemies: A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer