18. Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels by by Hella Winston: What an interesting look at people who choose to leave the Hasidic lifestyle. I found this book quite compelling and it brought up situations that never would have occurred to me. I had no idea that in my Hasidic communities in the U.S. people spoke Yiddish primarily and that English is very much a second language. The problems people face when they try to leave seem almost insurmountable, so it's amazing that anyone does leave.

Winston follows a handful of people as they try to leave their Hasidic communities, but these people (especially men) have extremely poor education (the men get almost no secular studies), no knowledge of the customs and mores of the outside world, and nowhere to go to simply get themselves settled. Many, it appears, turn to substance abuse. It's ultimately a sad tale; those who don't have sympathetic non-observant relative can really isolate themselves. An interesting read, but after these negative views of Hasidic life, I'd really like to read something that shows the other side of things.

17. Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls by Stephanie Levine: This book looks at teenaged girls in the Hasidic Lubavitch community. You could call this book research for my own writing, and while I did enjoy the looks at the individual girls, I found that this book was too much of what I think it was supposed to be--an academic paper. I didn't care so much of the sociological ramifications in a greater community, I just wanted more of the girls. The young women profiled were certainly diverse--people interested in leaving, people who were truly embracing the religion, people who were trying to mix careers in the secular world with the religious life. It would be quite interesting to have more follow-up on these young women. The book was insightful and helpful for me, but was not a gripping read, I'm afraid.

8. My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith by Benyamin Cohen: Cohen is the son of an Orthodox rabbi, living in Atlanta. Cohen is feeling disillusioned and unfulfilled by Judaism, so he decides to investigate Christianity, to see if there are any meanings he can take that will help him rediscover his own faith. To that end, every Sunday he visits churches, faith rallies, and meets Christian evangelicals.

My biggest complaint with this book is that it floats too much on the surface. I felt it was unclear that this entire time, Cohen is actually still a very observant Jew, keeping kosher, observing Shabbat, attending synagogue services. He mocks religion liberally, especially his own, but I thought it came off as forced. He glimpses into Christian wrestling, Mormonism, Christian rock shows, Catholicism, but he can't capture it all in a year and he doesn't delve deeply into any of the areas. The book was interesting, but it wasn't that enlightening. If you read this, read it as a memoir, not for deeper meaning or for humor.

4. Raising Your Child to Be a Mensch by Neil Kurshan: This book was recommended to me by Pie's preschool director; it's out of print but I was able to find it used. Mensch is a Yiddish term that means something along the lines of "good person" (the definition I found on the web is "a person of integrity and honor").

The book was an enjoyable read, but the philosophy is one that's similar to what we already believe (and is expanded upon, I think, in Wendy Mogel's Blessing of a Skinned Knee, which I should reread now that my kids are older), so it was a bit of preaching to the choir. Raise your children with solid morals, don't overschedule them, have quality time, make sure they use manners and have respect for others, and such. Kurshan gives lots of examples, which make the book very readable. While Kurshan is coming from an Old Testament perspective, I would think it would be relevant to anyone.

2. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs: Four years ago, I read Jacobs's (an Esquire writer) first book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, which was about his quest to read the encyclopedia from A to Z. It isn't dry like it sounds--he cleverly tied much of what he'd read to his personal life--but I didn't feel the style held together for me throughout. The episodic style, however, is perfect for this book.

The premise of the book is that Jacobs, an agnostic New York Jew, wants to better understand this book that impacts the life the majority of this country and much of the world. To do so, he decides for one year, to live a biblical life, meaning he wants to literally follow the laws set out in the bible. He spent eight months on the Old Testament and four months on the New. Of course, he finds the task to be completely impossible--he didn't take an eyes for eyes and the like--but he does a great job at exploring the Bible and those who follow it, and he manages to do it with both humor and respect. He interviews atheists, clergy members, serpent handlers; he visits the Creation Museum and Israel. He dresses in white, carries a staff, and grows a mammoth beard. Throughout it all, his wife, pregnant with twins, barely tolerates it all.

The book opens more questions than it answers, but it clearly shows Jacobs's spiritual growth. It's also incredibly funny and I found it impressive that he never spoke down about any of the folks he met (and he meets some interesting characters). I think anyone remotely interested in religion--or just humorous memoirs--would enjoy this book.