Posted on January 31, 2008 by Steve Pollak
For this month’s roundup of the best-selling Jewish books on Amazon, I found another new category. I discovered the “Hot New Releases
” section of Amazon and decided to include it because I thought it had some interesting titles when I burrowed into the 'Jewish' category under 'World Literature.'
As always, I present this list as a rough estimation of what’s selling on Amazon. One thing I’ve learned since the last time I put this list together is that the rankings change very quickly. In fact, Amazon updates their stats every hour. Therefore, when you visit these pages later today you may find a different set of results. For you convenience, I've provided links to the category pages below.
I should remind everybody that Amazon puts the books in these categories, not me. I still don’t know what Hamlet is doing in the Jewish literature category but it’s there. Looking at it from the bright side, I guess it just goes to show that I’m not making this stuff up. All of these results were accurate as of last night when I compiled the lists.
Now, without further ado, here are the results of the Amazon category listings sorted according to ‘bestselling’:
Top Ten under 'Hot New Releases' in Literature and Fiction > World Literature > Jewish
1. The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy by Aaron W. Hughes (Author) Publication Date: January 30, 2008
2. Klezmer America: Jewishness, Ethnicity, Modernity by Jonathan Freedman (Author) Publication Date: December 19, 2007
3. 1 Enoch 91-108 (Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature) by Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Author) Publication Date: December 30, 2007
4. Recovering Yiddishland: Threshold Moments in American Literature (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music and Art) by Merle L. Bachman (Author) Publication Date: December 30, 2007
5. Discovering Exile: Yiddish and Jewish American Culture During the Holocaust (Stanford Studies in Jewish History and C) by Anita Norich (Author) Release Date: November 6, 2007
6. American Talmud: The Cultural Work of Jewish American Fiction (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture) by Ezra Cappell (Author) Publication Date: January 2008
7. In the Maelstroem: A History of Russian-jewish Literatrure 1860-1940 by Zsuzsa Hetenyi (Author) Publication Date: January 30, 2008
8. WALTER BENJAMIN (Routledge Critical Thinkers S.) by Barbara Engh (Author) Publication Date: January 1, 2008
9. Holocaust Literature (Magill's Choice) by John K. Roth (Editor), Edward G. Sexton (Editor) Publication Date: March 21, 2008
10. Contemporary Jewish Writing in Europe: A Guide (Jewish Literature and Culture) by Vivian Liska (Editor), Thomas Nolden (Editor) Publication Date: November 30, 2007
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > Jewish
1. Hamlet (Shakespeare in Production) by William Shakespeare and Robert Hapgood (Hardcover - May 28, 1999)
2. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz and Nicholas de Lange (Paperback - Nov 1, 2005)
3. Wiesel's Night (Cliffs Notes) by Maryam Riess (Paperback - Sep 5, 1996)
4. Bernard Malamud: A Writer's Life by Philip Davis (Hardcover - Sep 7, 2007)
5. A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin (Paperback - Mar 19, 1969)
6. The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) by Peter Cole (Paperback - Jan 2, 2007)
7. Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables by David M. Bader (Hardcover - Mar 31, 2005)
8. The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky by S. Ansky, David G. Roskies, and Golda Werman (Paperback - Sep 1, 2002)
9. Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number (The Americas) by Jacobo Timerman, Arthur Miller, Ilan Stavans, and Toby Talbot (Paperback - Aug 30, 2002)
10. The Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan, and Morton M. Leifman (Paperback - Feb 2007)
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > United States > Jewish American
1. Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom (Hardcover - Aug 21, 2007)
2. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (Hardcover - April 5, 2004)
3. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska and Alice Kessler-Harris (Paperback - May 1999)
4. Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam by Maggie Anton (Paperback - Jul 31, 2007)
5. Dawn by Elie Wiesel and Frances Frenaye (Paperback - Mar 21, 2006)
6. Kabbalah: A Love Story by Lawrence Rabbi Kushner (Paperback - Oct 9, 2007)
7. Women's Minyan by Naomi Ragen (Paperback - Mar 2006)
8. Day: A Novel by Elie Wiesel and Anne Borchardt (Paperback - Mar 21, 2006)
9. Beware of God: Stories by Shalom Auslander (Paperback - Mar 28, 2006)
10. Caspian Rain by Gina Nahai (Hardcover - Sep 14, 2007)
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 Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky by S. Ansky, David G. Roskies, and Golda Werman (Paperback - Sep 1, 2002)
3. Ineffable Name Of God: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Morton M. Leifman (Hardcover - Dec 2004)
4. A Treasury of Yiddish Stories: Revised and Updated Edition by Irving Howe (Hardcover - Dec 20, 1989)
5. American Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology by Benjamin Harshav and Barbara Harshav (Hardcover - Nov 14, 1986)
6. The Family Mashber: A Novel by "Der Nister"/"the Hidden One" by Nister and Leonard Wolf (Hardcover - Jun 1987)
7. The I. L. Peretz Reader by I. L. Peretz and Ruth Wisse (Paperback - Jun 1, 2002)
8. A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural by S. Ansky, Joachim Neugroschel, and Tony Kushner (Paperback - April 1998)
9. From the Fair: The Autobiography of Sholom Aleichem by Sholom Aleichem (Hardcover - May 29, 1985)
10. Keys to the Garden: New Israeli Writing by Ammiel Alcalay (Paperback - Oct 1996)
Top Ten under Religion and Spirituality > Judaism
1. Survival In Auschwitz by Primo Levi (Hardcover - Aug 20, 2007)
2. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner (Audio Cassette - Sep 4, 2001) - Abridged
3. Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Paperback - Feb 22, 2005)
4. How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James L. Kugel (Hardcover - Sep 11, 2007)
5. The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word (Meyer, Joyce) by Joyce Meyer (Hardcover - Aug 26, 2004)
6. The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel (Paperback - Oct 30, 2001)
7. The Jewish Study Bible: featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation by Adele Berlin, Marc Zvi Brettler, and Michael Fishbane (Hardcover - Oct 15, 2003)
8. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition) by Simon Wiesenthal (Paperback - April 7, 1998)
9. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Armstrong, Karen) by Karen Armstrong (Hardcover - Mar 2, 2004)
10. Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir by Shalom Auslander (Hardcover - Oct 4, 2007)
As always, I welcome your comments.