What’s new–and notable–on the Jewish bookshelf?

Jewish Book Month is an international celebration of Jewish books that takes place during the 30 days preceding Chanukah. It is rooted in a 1925 initiative by Boston librarian Fanny Goldstein to encourage the giving of books as Chanukah gifts. While I love books as gifts, I believe that there are other, even-more compelling reasons to read this time of year.

A study by Sussex University determined that reading can reduce stress by 68%. “By losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the everyday world,” said cognitive neuropsychologist David Lewis, referring to how readers enter a universe created from the writer’s imagination.

Feeling like you could use a little break from the real world or a chance to see through someone else’s eyes? Here is a selection of noteworthy character-driven new books for your escape.

The Curse of Pietro Houdini  by Derek B. Miller

Like Houdini’s mysterious feats of escape, not everything is what it appears to be in this bewitching World War II art-heist-adventure, roughly based on historical events. The tale begins when an orphaned 14-year-old who calls himself Massimo is rescued by flamboyant self-described art restorer Pietro Houdini, who is on a mission to stop the Nazis from carting off every precious artwork housed in the abbey of Montecassino. While the brutality of war rages around them, Massimo and Pietro bring together a cadre of unlikely colleagues–including a reluctant monk, a murderous café owner, a nurse hiding who she really is, a wounded soldier, and a heroic mule named Ferrari–to save each other and a trio of Titian masterpieces.

The Wall Street Journal said, “Mr. Miller’s book has the ring of truth and the echo of myth, and it deserves all the lucky readers who discover it.”

Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up With the Universe by Ken Krimstein

The newest graphic novel from award-winning New Yorker cartoonist and Evanston native Ken Krimstein takes us to Prague in 1911 as a struggling professor named Albert Einstein meets an insurance broker and struggling writer named Franz Kafka. Amidst a changing world, surrounded by friends and foes, both search for the truth.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Einstein in Kafkaland , “a dizzying delight.”

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman’s new book, Help Wanted , is receiving acclaim for its eye-opening look at the nature of work for many in our current economy. Among its accolades, it was named a  New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and featured on Barack Obama’s 2024 Summer Reading List.

The book is a departure from Waldman’s earlier work and from subject matter familiar to her. To prepare, she stepped away from her life as a successful novelist and columnist to work the 4 a.m. shift at a big-box store. The result is a nuanced novel that follows a team of shift-workers in an upstate New York town as they unload merchandise and stock shelves, all before their store opens to the public. Told in their individual voices, we get an up-close look at grueling routines necessitated by jobs that don’t provide sufficient hours or pay for workers to make ends meet.

Although circumstances are grim, the book is not. The characters are funny, creative, hard-working, and incredibly resilient, and together they come up with a crazy scheme to get one of their own promoted to a salaried position with benefits and room to grow.

Betsy Gomberg reads (and sometimes writes about) Jewish books.