Dear friends,
I’m doing a lot of reading in preparation for writing (which is always part of my process), and I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in reading along with me and discussion the works?
I’m just about to start David Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count: How Identity Politics Failed One Particular Identity. The video below, which features the author in conversation with the host of Talks at Google, which is a pretty good introduction to the book.
I’m reading the American edition because, as Baddiel rightly points out in the introduction to it, there are some subtle and not so subtle differences in the conversation in the UK and the US. If you plan to read along and are an American, it’s probably the edition that you want. But if you’re not, it might be interesting to get some discussions going about the ways in which the two editions diverge, so feel free to buy the UK edition if you prefer.
If you want to read along, I plan finishing this book by April 21st (it’s short-ish, and the voice is easy), and to post about it on the 14th and the second half on the 21st. I’ll be setting up threads, so that we can hold our discussions in private (discussion threads are only for paid subscribers, and everyone can read posts—the reason for this is so that trolls and no-goodniks can’t comment), and I promise not to quote you without your permission (but if we have productive discussions, I may well ask to quote you in the book or the newsletter… you can always demure if you like).
I’m also interested in any book recommendations you might have for me, and we may read those books together, too.
If you’re interested, leave a comment or just hit the “like” button on this post. If a half dozen or so of us are, I’ll move forward with setting up the discussion.
Best,
Sarah
I’m also writing a book (memoir actually )which touches on Jewish identity and non-identity. You saw a small taste of that in the collage class I took with you and I realize this was way too big for any collage or small project. I’ve been examining this question a lot, so I’ll go ahead and join in and read it. Thanks for the invite.
I purchased the book a while ago and was concerned I'd get too bummed out so haven't read it. I recently led a book discussion group at my synagogue about Israel, with reading, and it was quite tense and intense for me and for some others. But I am intrigued by this and also touched...