Notes from Around the Web: Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

A few literary links to direct your way before Shabbat:

  • Really fascinating take on “[Jonathan] Franzen, [Allegra] Goodman, and ‘The Great American Novel’,” by Gabriel Brownstein over on The Millions.
  • Many Mazel Tovs to the finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. This year, the award will be presented to a fiction writer, and the contenders are Allison Amend (Stations West), Nadia Kalman (The Cosmopolitans), Julie Orringer (The Invisible Bridge), Austin Ratner (The Jump Artist), and Joseph Skibell (A Curable Romantic).
  • The situation in Egypt has inspired author André Aciman to revisit his memories of growing up (Jewish) in Alexandria.
  • Book critic Sandee Brawarsky recommends the poetry of Merle Feld.
  • Jewcy.com presents its canonical “50 Most Essential Works Of Jewish Fiction Of The Last 100 Years.” (hat tip, Jewish Book Council)
  • Less canonical, perhaps, but no less worth reading (at least in my view): the bibliography that accompanied a recent panel on Jewish-American Fiction in the 21st Century.
  • Last Sunday, I spent a lovely afternoon touring (and reading from my new book of short stories, Quiet Americans) at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History.
  • Speaking of my book, please check in with our blog tour. Our latest stops have taken us to the Jewish Muse and First Line blogs.
  • Shabbat shalom!