Book Club

The June meeting of the Book Circle will be held in-person — to the delight of all participants — at the shul on Wednesday, the 28th, at 3 p.m. The selection is title The Marriage Box, a novel by Corie Adjmi, that considers the situation facing a Middle Eastern Jewish teenager, who accompanies her parents from a liberated life in New Orleans to an Orthodox Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, where the search for a suitable husband is the primary directive.

Sixteen-year-old Casey Cohen discovers that the marriage box is a real place, a pool deck designated for teenage girls to put themselves on display for potential husbands.

Michael seems the right choice for her, but she begins to question the decision when she is expected to conform to wifely duties that put her own plans aside.  How she navigates opposing worlds is the focus of the book and the book group’s consideration.

The Book Circle explores writing on Jewish issues by Jewish writers. For more information, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.   

The May meeting of the Book Circle will be held on Thursday, May 18, at 4 p.m., on Zoom, to wrestle with the meaning of the term “terra incognita,” which for the medieval Catalan navigators could mean fear or the thrill of adventure. The characters in Terra Incognita, a novel by award-winning author Libi Astaire, are about to have their peaceful life upended when outsiders threaten to reveal a secret hidden within this village of Spanish Jews, exposing the village and its inhabitants to strangers and their prying eyes. Reviewers have characterized the novel as poignant and comic — a journey of personal discovery that will resonate with anyone who has ever gone on a quest to discover his or her past or, some say, who has ever lain awake at night wondering where in the world they are going.

The Book Circle discusses works by Jewish writers on Jewish themes. For more information, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.   

The Book Circle is finding the Rothschild women so fascinating — and lengthy — that discussion will continue into the April meeting, which will be held on Thursday, the 20th, at 4 p.m., on Zoom.

In this book, The Women Of Rothschild: Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty, Natalie Livingstone reveals the role of women in shaping the legacy of the famous Rothschild family, synonymous with wealth and power. The writer follows the women from the 19th through the 21st centuries. As Jews in a Christian society and women in a deeply patriarchal family, they were outsiders. Excluded from the family bank, they forged their own distinct dynasty and became influential hostesses and diplomats, choreographing electoral campaigns, advising prime ministers, advocating for social reform, and trading on the stock exchange.

The Book Circle meets monthly to discuss books on Jewish themes and/or by Jewish writers. For more information, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Suzi Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.