Reqs and Recs + Looking Ahead to Sukkos '24

More book recommendations

We’re overdue to answer more of your reading requests. Thanks to all who’ve sent in your questions and shared a slice of your reading life with the world! These niche lists give us a chance to get nitty gritty and hopefully uncover titles you haven’t gotten to yet. I would love to hear what ideas you can add to the below requests - leave your recommendations in the comments.

Plus, a small preview of what you can expect in the upcoming Sukkos release season, with some titles already available in stores.

Q1

I love reading, and introduced my husband to this enjoyment when I got married. He really enjoys Riva Pomerantz's books. He likes that they’re real life, today's days, and a deep dive into relationships with lots of dialogue. Which other authors or books would recommend for him to read? - MH

We’ve done Riva Pomerantz-alikes here and here, so I’m going to focus on some contemporary fiction with Riva’s family-drama style that spotlights male characters.

1. Sundays @ 10, Dov Haller

2. Price Tags, Ariella Schiller

3. The Cliff Line, Mattie Wiseman

4. All I Ask, Ruti Kepler

5. Stay with Me, Libby Lazewnik

Q2

My daughter is going into 2nd grade. She’s very advanced in her reading comprehension, but is below grade level for her actual reading. When I read to her, we read books like Three Cheers for Shira and Baker's Dozen, and she loves them! But she needs easy words that she can sound out. Picture books are boring for her, she wants something with an interesting storyline. Do you have any suggestions?

This is one of the biggest challenges with first and second-grade readers. Titles with grade-appropriate vocabulary and sentences often have very simplistic stories that don’t hook children enough. A common choice for this age is to opt for Genendel Krohn-style story/picture books, which feature full pages of sentences with advanced stories. Below are some chapter book options.

1. The Bentzi Series, Shifra Glick

2. The Shimmy Ray Series, Menucha Fuchs

3. Avi for President, Ann D Kofsky

4. Shorty Schwartz, Dishy Shiffman

Q3

I recently read two books that I thoroughly enjoyed, "Even if I'm Not" and "Where is the Daughter I Raised?" I also enjoyed "Of Medicine, Miracles and Mindsets", though not as much. I didn't appreciate the heavy hashkafa and the fact that it was from the husband's point of view. Can you recommend similar books? - BL

1. Compatible with Life, Devorah Schendler

2. The Rolling Rabbi, Shaindel Simes

3. Rebel with a Cause, Shira Yehudit Djalilmand

4. God Winked, Sara Yocheved Rigler

Q4

Can you recommend a book that is funny and suspenseful? I've read the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella and I love how her main character is crazy but so believable. Do we have any fun characters like that in Jewish literature? - BB

The short answer is, No, there’s nothing exactly like that. The longer answer is, Sure, we can always find something similar. The below each share different characteristics with the series, whether the relatable self-effacement, the general series structure, or the irreverent tone.

1. Rule of Three, Esther Kurtz

2. Rocky Rhodes, Bina Scharf

3. Pride and Preference, Barbara Bensoussan

4. Veiled Truth, Etka Gitel Schwartz

5. Invisible Me, Tzippi Katon (YA)

Have a book request for next time? Email your detailed question to frumbooks@substack.com.

The Sukkos ‘24 release season is starting to roll out, earlier than typical - the late calendar definitely helps with that! We have another month before our Sukkos Release Roundup (although it’s deep in progress already), but here’s an incomplete list of what you can expect.

Kids: Dilemmas, Yael Mermelstein (a brand installment of The Baker’s Dozen) • Handle with Care, Dassy Aarons • Danger in the Woods, Rochel Samet

Teens: Upper Class, Ariella Schiller (serialized in Mishpacha’s Teen Pages) • Suspicion, Ruthie Pearlman (out now!) • Chasing Dreams, Devorah Berlin • Teens Talk, Sarah Massry

Fiction: The Final Battle, M. Kenan • The Stars are Fire, Rachel Berger (out now!) • Today, Shuli Mensch • Power Tools, Esty Heller • Fault Lines, Rochel Newton (short stories - out now!) • The Polygon by Yonah Sapir (a standalone WWII spy novel with some holocaust mixed in) • Two O’clock Totty, Rachel Schorr • Driving Force, Yair Weinstock • Never Lost, Carol Hagler • Noone’s Child, Tamar Mor • I Lift My Eyes, Libby Klein

Non-fiction: Stories of Our Lives 1 and 2, Sarah Shapiro (essays) • Because He Cared, Rabbi Yechiel Spero (a biography about Rabbi Moshe Neuman of Queens) • Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim, Rabbi Ashear • One Good Turn, CB Weinfeld • In Spite of It All, Riva Pomerantz (the holocaust memoir Riva’s been talking about - out now!)