The Books That Didn’t Make the List
Tablet staffers share titles they wish made it onto 101 Great Jewish Books
September 18, 2013
(Joanna Neborsky)
We get it, 101 books is a lot. But in making a list that dares to call itself 101 Great Jewish Books—even if we enlisted the help of team of talented writers and thinkers—we were bound to leave off some favorites. I asked Tablet staffers which titles they felt got snubbed, and as to be expected, got a whole lot of responses. Here they are, in no particular order other than the speed with which I received the responses:
The Human Stain, by Philip Roth
The Finkler Question, Howard Jacobson
Eighty-sixed, by David Feinberg
Genesis and the Beginning of Desire, by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
The Garden of Emmunah, by Rabbi Shalom Arush
As a Driven Leaf, by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (mentioned by several staffers)
Shadows on the Hudson, by Issac Bashevis Singer
Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (the original comic book)
Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow (Bellow’s Herzog, it should be noted, was included on the list)
As for me, I’m most upset Lena Dunham’s forthcoming memoir didn’t make it into the canon even before we got a chance to read it. What say you, dear readers? Share your forgotten favorites in the comments.
The Scroll will be dark until Monday, Sept. 23 in observance of Sukkot (and my birthday, obviously). Wishing everyone a meaningful, harvest-filled holiday.
Related: 101 Great Jewish Books
Stephanie Butnick is the founder of GOLDA, a Jewish lifestyle newsletter. She hosted the Tablet podcast Unorthodox, co-authored The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between, and worked as a writer and editor at Tablet.
