July 1, 2008
Amazon bestsellers: Summertime roundup
We have not done this in a while so let’s take a look at what’s popular in the Jewish categories on Amazon.
Please keep in mind that Amazon chooses which books to place in which categories. That said, there are some that don’t belong. For example, there’s a book by a Christian minister in the ‘Judaism’ category. So, Amazon’s not perfect. Who is?
Nonetheless, I like to keep tabs on what people are reading. If you’re interested also, check out the lists below.
Without further ado, here are the results of the Amazon category listings sorted according to ‘bestselling’:
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > United States > Jewish American
1. Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom (Paperback – Jun 24, 2008)
2. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (Hardcover – April 5, 2004)
3. Rashi’s Daughters, Book II: Miriam by Maggie Anton (Paperback – Jul 31, 2007)
4. Dawn by Elie Wiesel and Frances Frenaye (Paperback – Mar 21, 2006)
5. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska and Alice Kessler-Harris (Paperback – May 1999)
6. The Book of Dahlia: A Novel by Elisa Albert (Hardcover – Mar 11, 2008)
7. Beware of God: Stories by Shalom Auslander (Paperback – Mar 28, 2006)
8. Kabbalah: A Love Story by Lawrence Rabbi Kushner (Paperback – Oct 9, 2007)
9. The German Bride: A Novel by Joanna Hershon (Hardcover – Mar 25, 2008)
10. Women’s Minyan by Naomi Ragen (Paperback – Mar 2006)
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > Jewish
1. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz and Nicholas de Lange (Paperback – Nov 1, 2005)
2. Wiesel’s Night (Cliffs Notes) by Maryam Riess (Paperback – Sep 5, 1996)
3. Cliff Notes on The Chosen by Stephen J. Greenstein (Paperback – Sep 15, 1999)
4. All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs by Elie WIESEL (Hardcover – 1995) – Import
5. The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) (Lockert Library of Poetry in … (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) by Peter Cole (Paperback – Jan 2, 2007)
6. Open Closed Open: Poems by Yehuda Amichai (Paperback – Nov 6, 2006)
7. A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin (Paperback – Mar 19, 1969)
8. Murder on a Kibbutz: Communal Case, A by Batya Gur (Paperback – Sep 29, 1995)
9. The Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan, and Morton M. Leifman (Paperback – Feb 2007)
10. The Saturday Morning Murder: Psychoanalytic Case, A by Batya Gur (Paperback – Nov 30, 1993)
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > Yiddish
1. Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics) by Sholem Aleichem (Paperback – Oct 1, 1996)
2. The Family Mashber: A Novel by “Der Nister”/”the Hidden One” by Nister and Leonard Wolf (Hardcover – Jun 1987)
3. Ineffable Name Of God: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Morton M. Leifman (Hardcover – Dec 2004)
4. A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural by Tony Kushner and Joachim Neugrochel (Paperback – Dec 1, 1997)
5. American Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology by Benjamin Harshav and Barbara Harshav (Hardcover – Nov 14, 1986)
6. A Treasury of Yiddish Stories: Revised and Updated Edition by Irving Howe (Hardcover – Dec 20, 1989)
7. Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky by Kadia Molodowsky and Kathryn Hellerstein (Paperback – Jun 1999)
8. The I. L. Peretz Reader by I. L. Peretz and Ruth Wisse (Paperback – Jun 1, 2002)
9. God Hid His Face: Selected Poems by Rajzel Zychlinsky, Barnett Zumoff, Aaron Kramer, and Marek Kanter (Hardcover – Nov 1997)
10. Treasury of Jewish Love: Poems, Quotations & Proverbs : In Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino and English (Treasury of Love) by David C. Gross (Hardcover – Nov 1994)
Top Ten under Religion and Spirituality > Judaism
1. Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Paperback – Jul 15, 2008)
2. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner (Audio Cassette – Nov 28, 1988) – Abridged
3. The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel (Paperback – Oct 30, 2001)
4. The Secret garden: An anthology in the Kabbalah (A Continuum book) (Unknown Binding – 1976)
5. Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’Rit Hadashah (New Testament) by David H. Stern (Hardcover – Jun 1998)
6. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Armstrong, Karen) by Karen Armstrong (Hardcover – Mar 2, 2004)
7. How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James L. Kugel (Paperback – Oct 21, 2008)
8. The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History by Ibn Warraq and Andrew G. Bostom (Hardcover – Jun 5, 2008)
9. Stairway to Heaven: Chinese Alchemists, Jewish Kabbalists, and the Art of Spiritual Transformation by Peter Levenda (Paperback – Jun 2008)
10. The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word (Meyer, Joyce) by Joyce Meyer (Hardcover – Aug 26, 2004)
Biographies & Memoirs › Ethnic & National › Jewish
1. Night (Oprah’s Book Club) by Elie Wiesel (Paperback – Jan 16, 2006)
2. Anne Frank Lb by Anne Frank (Hardcover – Oct 3, 1967)
3. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (Hardcover – Mar 30, 2000)
4. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman (Hardcover – Nov 19, 1996)
5. Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (Paperback – Aug 12, 1986)
6. The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado (Hardcover – Jun 26, 2007)
7. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn (Paperback – Aug 21, 2007)
8. My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachel Naomi Remen (Hardcover – April 10, 2000)
9. Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in One of the World’s Most Elite Counterterrorism Units by Aaron Cohen and Douglas Century (Hardcover – April 29, 2008)
10. Foreskin’s Lament: A Memoir by Shalom Auslander (Hardcover – Oct 4, 2007)
As always, I welcome your comments.
For more news about Jewish books, sign up for Jewish Literary Review’s email alerts (via Feedburner).
“My son is a genius. Who taught him to write like that? Like a real professional. Go figure.”
–Mrs. Sobel
Dear Amazon Jewish Category People:
Although my book MINYAN: Ten Jewish Men in a World That is Heartbroken is ranked as Amazon’s #295,696, it shot up from #1,673,254 only yesterday, probably due to the fact that I finally convinced several ex-girlfriends to buy it, based on my assurance that their fictional counterparts were not at all intended to make them seem either fatter or more whiny. So there is no reason to omit it from your list of Jewish books people are currently reading. In addition to the two aforementioned ex’s, I know of at least three other Jews currently reading Minyan, including a lady I met riding on a stationary bike at a JCC gym in Richmond, Virginia. So please revise your lists accordingly.
Sincerely,
Eliezer Sobel
(Author also of another widely-read, new work with a lot of Jewish content: The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist’s Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics and Other Consciousness-Raising Adventures. Sit down, have a nice piece of sponge cake and maybe a little hot tea, and read the prologue here: http://www.the99thmonkey.com )
An interesting list to be sure – I’ve heard good things about “Rashi’s Daughters.” When you have a moment, I would like to invite you to visit a new online Jewish publication which focuses on themes of modern Jewish identity: http://www.newvilnareview.com
We’re always looking for new contributors so if you or someone you know might be interested in submitting something we would be happy to hear from you.