Blog

A Message from the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival

In difficult times throughout history, the Arts have always been there to provide insight, entertainment, maybe distraction, and certainly inspiration to the community. While the isolation of COVID-19 is new to us all, our people are not unfamiliar with being forced to study, learn and grow within the walls of our homes. Luckily, today’s requirement for social distancing comes at a time when we have more access to technology than ever before.

The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival invites you to read along with us, as we consider a host of new books for this year’s fall Jewish Book Festival, November 1-13, 2020. In the list below, you will find a wide range of genres including memoirs, historical fiction, biography, food, nonfiction, mystery and more.

• The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World by Rahm Emanuel
• When Time Stopped: A Memoir by Ariana Neumann
• Irving Berlin: New York Genius by James Kaplan
• 36 Righteous Men: A Novel by Steven Pressfield
• I Want You to Know We're Still Here by Esther Safran-Foer
• Mengele: Unmasking the “Angel of Death” by David G. Marwell
• The Three Lives of James Madison by Noah Feldman
• Citizen 865 by Debbie Cenziper
• Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• The Yellow Bird Sings: A Novel by Jennifer Rosner
• Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
• Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein
• Hannah’s War by Jan Ellasberg
• Feasting & Fasting: The History & Ethics of Jewish Food by Aaron Gross

Please share your feedback with us at ABornstein@jccstl.org, and tell us what else you are reading!

I encourage you to utilize the St. Louis County Library system, download books on your e-reader or tablet, or purchase from a local bookstore. While St. Louis County Library branches are currently closed, their digital collection is always open to stream audiobooks with your library card at slcl.org/emedia. At the Festival, we source books from an independent retailer, Main Street Books in St. Charles, and they could really use the support during this time. Main Street Books is offering free shipping or curbside pickup; call 636-949-0105.

Additionally, the Cultural Arts team at the J has put together a number of ways for you to reconnect with the books, films, theater and music that make our Jewish community so strong. Through our *new* Facebook Group, we will be posting additional book recommendations, access to digital movies, online theater productions, resources for youth theatre, and much more.

It is hard to find the silver lining during this difficult time, but we should all be thankful for the ability to connect virtually. If anything, Covid19 has shown us that we are strongest when we come together, learn together, and stay connected. I look forward to a time when we can gather again in our beautiful community spaces and share in the joy of the Arts, together.

Happy Reading,

Amy Bornstein
Director, Literary & Jewish Arts
St. Louis Jewish Community Center
ABornstein@jccstl.org