New Titles August 2023
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Click/tap the image to view a PDF for more synopses of the latest additions to the library. |
FICTION
The Men Can’t Be Saved by Ben Purkert
Seth is a junior copywriter whose latest tagline just went viral. He’s the agency’s hottest new star, or at least he wants his coworker crush to think so. But while he’s busy drooling over his future corner office, the walls crumble around him. When his job lets him go, he can’t let go of his job. Unfortunately, one former colleague can’t let him go either: Robert “Moon” McCloone, a skeezy on-the-rise exec better suited to a frat house than a boardroom. Seth tries to forget Moon and rediscover his spiritual self; he studies Kabbalah with an Orthodox rabbi by day while popping illegal prescription pills by night. But with each misstep, Seth strays farther from salvation—though he might get there, if he could only get out of his own way. In his debut novel, Purkert incisively peels back the layers of the male ego, revealing what’s rotten and what might be redeemed. Brimming with wit, irreverence, and soul-searching, Men Can’t Be Saved is a startlingly original examination of work, sex, addiction, religion, branding, and ourselves.
Other new titles:
- Juniper and Thron by Ava Reid
- Ravage & Son by Jerome Charyn
- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- A Tale of January by Albert Maltz
- Jewish Futures: Stories from the World’s Oldest Diaspora Edited by Michael A. Burstein
NON-FICTION
Jewish Virtue Ethics Edited by Geoffrey D. Claussen, Alexander Green and Alan L. Mittleman
What is good character? What are the traits of a good person? How should virtues be cultivated? How should vices be avoided? The history of Jewish literature is filled with reflection on questions of character and virtue such as these, reflecting a wide range of contexts and influences. Beginning with the Bible and culminating with twenty-first- century feminism and environmentalism, Jewish Virtue Ethics explores thirty-five influential Jewish approaches to character and virtue. Virtue ethics has been a burgeoning field of moral inquiry among academic philosophers in the postwar period. Although Jewish ethics has also flourished as an academic (and practical) field, attention to the role of virtue in Jewish thought has been underdeveloped. This volume seeks to illuminate its centrality not only for readers primarily interested in Jewish ethics but also for readers who take other approaches to virtue ethics, including within
the Western virtue ethics tradition. The original essays written for this volume provide valuable sources for philosophical reflection.
Other new titles:
- The Beauty Of The Hebrew Letter: From Sacred Scroll To Graffiti by Izziy Pludwinski
- Sons of Savors: The Red Jews in Yiddish Culture by Rebekka Voss
- Like A Drop Of Ink in a Downpour: Memories Of Soviet Russia by Yelena Lembersky, Galina Lembersky
- Re-Forming Judaism: Moment Of Disruption in Jewish Thought Edited by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids and Leah Hochman, Phd
YOUNG READER
The Year My Life Went Down The Toilet by Jake Maia Arlow
Twelve-year-old Al Schneider is too scared to talk about the two biggest things in her life: Her stomach hurts all the time and she has no idea why, and, she’s almost definitely 100% sure she likes girls. So she holds it in…until she can’t. After nearly having an accident of the lavatorial variety in gym class, Al finds herself getting a colonoscopy and an answer—she has Crohn’s disease. But rather than solving all her problems, Al’s diagnosis just makes everything worse. It’s scary and embarrassing. And worst of all, everyone wants her to talk about it—her overprotective mom, her best friend, and most annoyingly her gastroenterologist, who keeps trying to get her to go to a support group for kids with similar chronic illnesses. But, who wants to talk about what you do in the bathroom? The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet is a wildly funny and honest story about finding community, telling the truth even when it’s hard, and the many indignities of middle school life.
JUVENILE
We All Belong by Nathalie Goss
We all live in the one world together. Let’s see how we’re different in some ways and the same in other ways. We all Belong’ is a beautifully written and illustrated children’s picture book that recognizes and celebrates the diversity in a caring group of children. By recognizing differences between cultures and races, and appreciating that everyone is beautiful, children can grow up with empathy – appreciating others around them. ‘We all Belong’ gives young readers a safe space to see themselves and others through a diverse group of characters. The book includes an activity at the end, to help children appreciate how we are all similar in some ways and different in other ways too.
Other new titles:
- Our Skin by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli
- Being You by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli
- A Dragon Shared by Alex Gross
- The Last Place You Look by Wallace Skelton
- Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslie Newman
- A Book About Bupkes by Leslie Kimmelman
- Out and About A Tale Of Giving by Liza Wiemer
- Challah Day! by Charlotte Offsay
- Tzimmes for Tzipporah: A Harvest Story by Megan Hoyt
- Kayla and Kugel’silly Sukkot by Ann D. Koffsky
- The Moving Box Sukkah by Leah Rachel Berkowitz
- Vampires Don’t Observe Shabbos by Michelle Franklin
- Two New Years by Richard Ho