Title: Living A Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today’s Families
Author: Anita Diamant
Genre: Non-Fiction

I have not been including the Jewish or religious books I’ve been reading on this list this year. I realize now that the omission makes it look like I’m way behind on my reading for the year so that stops now. Jewish books get added to the list from this point forward. I’m not going to go back and add books from earlier in the year but definitely all going forward.

I read DIamant’s book Choosing a Jewish Life and found it to be ok. Not great but ok. I liked this one much better. Perhaps because Choosing a Jewish Life focused so much on people who are converting because of marriage or because I had already done a lot of studying and soul searching by the time I picked it up. Not sure. Just as a side note though one element of my conversion that I didn’t anticipate was how odd I am for converting not for the love of a partner or a forthcoming marriage. The vast majority of the other converts I’ve encountered converted primarily because of a Jewish partner. Let me restate that, I’m sure by the time their actual conversion came around they were doing it because it was the right choice for them but they started the process because of their Jewish partner. See the difference? It doesn’t bother me that I’m in the minority on this one (hell, I’m in the minority on just about everything else) because I’m completely solid, happy and content with my spiritual path but I will admit that I didn’t realize just how much in the minority I would be.

While this book didn’t have a ton of new information for me there was enough that it was definitely worth my while. There are some new rituals traditions that I’ve not encountered that seem worthwhile and meaningful so I may incorporate them into my life. I like find new ways to find meaning in my life. Good stuff.

Title: Outliers: The Story of Success
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non-Fiction

I’ve read Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers over the past several months and without question Outliers is my favorite. The way Gladwell puts so many things in cultural context and shows how that impacts both individual development and societal development is fascinating. And unlike Blink and The Tipping Point I think that Outliers and all the information about cultural context is actually quite useful. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy Blink and The Tipping Point but at the end of them both I was like “ok that’s interesting but I can’t really do anything to improve my life or the lives of others with this information.” That’s not the case with Outliers. Good good stuff, very highly recommended.

Title: Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp
Author: Gwen Roland
Genre: Memoir

It is my custom to read this book and few others every single year. Normally I do so in January but the early part of 2009 was busy and dramatic and all that so I didn’t get to it a few months ago. Finally, yesterday, I was able to spend the afternoon just inhaling this sweet, delicate, inspiring little book. I’m sure eventually I’m going to enjoy this book less but I’ve been reading it at least once a year since 2006 and the pleasure has to diminish. It’s the story of two people living life in the most deliberate of ways, in almost complete seclusion, living off the land and water, basking in a life of their own design and making. They fish and garden, raise chickens, write poetry and take walks, watch the stars and make homemade wine, can and preserve, read and listen. I don’t know that I could ever commit to living in such seclusion but the principles and values they live by are incredibly inspiring to me. And I could definitely see myself someday splitting my time between a small house back home on the farm and Louisville.

I need to just order like 10 copies of this book from Amazon because so frequently I want to give it as a gift but it’s a tiny little book from a university imprint so bookstores never stock it.

Title: Lovesong: Becoming a Jew
Author: Julius Lester
Genre: Memoir, Judaism

I wish I had read this book at the beginning of my conversion journey instead of starting it the day before my mikvah and finishing it the day of my conversion ceremony. Oh well, you can’t have everything you want. If I had read it at the beginning it would have been much easier to verbalize a lot of the things I felt cause I could have just shared passages from this book. Lester speaks so much more eloquently than I was able to about the yearnings of the soul that are particular to converts and a lot of the intangibles that make us find and know our paths. It is a powerful book.

Seriously, I’d love to just paste about two pages worth of quotes in here and then go: “yes, that’s the way I’ve felt and feel now.” But there are copyright issues so go buy your own copy. Or ask to borrow mine and I’ll highlight some passages for you.

Title: It Sucked and Then I Cried
Author: Heather B. Armstrong
Genre: Non-Fiction

I think you either really love Heather Armstrong’s blog Dooce.com or you really, really don’t like it. If you don’t love her blog you won’t love her book. I have loved Dooce forever. It’s a small badge of honor to say that I’ve been reading Dooce since before she got fired for her blog all those years ago. If you read Dooce during Heather’s pregnancy and her postpartum depression there isn’t a lot of new material in the book and I think that’s ok. I enjoyed reading the book very much. It was irreverant, funny and heartbreaking. I think her honesty about her mental illness is so very refreshing and is an absolute public service that she should be thanked for. So, thank you Heather.