Posted on March 6, 2008 by Steve Pollak
I never got around to doing a February roundup of Jewish bestsellers on Amazon so here's the list just a few days late.
All of the results below are as of this morning. Amazon says they update the bestselling results each hour but I don't know anything more about their methodology. As always, there are some strange titles included in the Jewish categories, including Hamlet, which is listed among the books in Jewish World Literature, and a book by a Christian minister, which is listed under Judaism in Amazon's Religion and Spirituality category.
Without further ado, here's the list:
Top Ten under Literature and Fiction > World Literature > United States > Jewish American
1. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (Hardcover - April 5, 2004)
2. Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom (Hardcover - Aug 21, 2007)
3. Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam by Maggie Anton (Paperback - Jul 31, 2007)
4. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska and Alice Kessler-Harris (Paperback - May 1999)
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 > 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. A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin (Paperback - Mar 19, 1969)
5. Literary Murder by Batya Gur and Dalya Bilu (Hardcover - Nov 1993)
6. 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)
7. Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number (The Americas) by Jacobo Timerman, Arthur Miller, Ilan Stavans, and Toby Talbot (Paperback - Aug 30, 2002)
8. The Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan, and Morton M. Leifman (Paperback - Feb 2007)
9. All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs by Elie WIESEL (Hardcover - 1995)
10. Murder on a Kibbutz: Communal Case, A by Batya Gur (Paperback - Nov 8, 1995)
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. Ineffable Name Of God: Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Morton M. Leifman (Hardcover - Dec 2004)
3. The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky by S. Ansky, David G. Roskies, and Golda Werman (Paperback - Sep 1, 2002)
4. Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers by Frieda Forman, Ethel Raicus, and Sarah Silberstein Swartz (Paperback - Oct 31, 1994)
5. A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural by S. Ansky, Joachim Neugroschel, and Tony Kushner (Paperback - April 1998)
6. The I. L. Peretz Reader by I. L. Peretz and Ruth Wisse (Paperback - Jun 1, 2002)
7. Yiddish Wisdom: Yiddishe Chochma by Kristina Swarner (Hardcover - Jun 1, 1996)
8. Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art) by Nahma Sandrow (Paperback - Dec 1995)
9. A Treasury of Yiddish Stories: Revised and Updated Edition by Irving Howe (Hardcover - Dec 20, 1989)
10. Modern Yiddish Culture: The Story of the Yiddish Language Movement by Emanuel Goldsmith (Paperback - Jan 1, 1997)
Top Ten under Religion and Spirituality > Judaism
1. Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Paperback - Feb 22, 2005)
2. Passover by Design: Picture-perfect Kosher by Design recipes for the holiday (Kosher by Design) by Susie Fishbein (Hardcover - Feb 28, 2008)
3. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner (Hardcover - Jan 1983) - Large Print
4. The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel (Paperback - Oct 30, 2001)
5. How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James L. Kugel (Hardcover - Sep 11, 2007)
6. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter (Hardcover - Sep 10, 2007)
7. The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word (Meyer, Joyce) by Joyce Meyer (Hardcover - Aug 26, 2004)
8. The Secret garden: An anthology in the Kabbalah (A Continuum book) (Unknown Binding - 1976)
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. Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B'Rit Hadashah (New Testament) by David H. Stern (Hardcover - Jun 1998)
As always, I welcome your comments.
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