Online Sources to Find (New) Jewish Books and Reviews
Downloadable/Printable PDF version of this page: 1st half, second half
Top 5
- Amazon
Largest online bookstore, with lots of reviews by readers. Quality of reviews varies, but good place to find out about new books. This link will take you to books published in the last 90 days that have an average of four or more stars (out of five):
http://bit.ly/JewishBooks - Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) Reviews
Bi-monthly publication with reviews written by librarians. Latest issue is available only for members, but older issues are free.
http://jewishlibraries.org/content.php?page=AJL_News___AJL_Review_Archive - Jewish Book Council
Thousands of searchable reviews, active social media presence (Facebook Twitter, Pinterest), weekly newsletter
http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/books/ - Jewish Review of Books
“A quarterly print publication with an active online presence for serious readers with Jewish interests. In our pages, leading writers and scholars discuss the newest books and ideas about religion, literature…”
Latest issue is available only for subscribers, but older issues are free.
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/ - Tablet Magazine’s Books section
“A daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture.”
http://tabletmag.com/category/jewish-arts-and-culture/books
Social Sites
- Facebook’s Jewish Books group
Authors and publishers post announcements of new books to a group of 1388 people
https://www.facebook.com/groups/8107351995/ - GoodReads’ Jewish Historical Fiction group
“GoodReads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations.” This group, with 338 members, has an active “recommendation discussion thread
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/6449-jewish-historical-fiction - Jewish Book Carnival
“A monthly event where bloggers can meet, read and comment on each others’ posts.”
http://jewishlibraries.org/content.php?page=Jewish_Book_Carnival_HQ
Its GoodReads group https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/34560-jewish-book-carnival - LibraryThing’s Jewish Bibliophiles group
“LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily” The goal of this group, with 177 members, is “to discuss all things Jewish, literary, or both”
https://www.librarything.com/groups/jewishbibliophiles
Journals
If you have access to online catalogs of academic journals you can find quality review in these journals. Table of contents (and often first page of reviews) are free to the public at Project Muse ( http://muse.jhu.edu/ ) and/or JSTOR ( http://www.jstor.org/ )
- AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) Review
“Scholarly articles and book reviews covering the field of Jewish Studies”
http://www.ajsnet.org/ajsreview.htm - Aleph by Indiana University Press
“Devoted to the exploration of the interface between Judaism and science in history
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=aleph - American Jewish History by The Johns Hopkins University Press
“Bringing readers all the richness and complexity of Jewish life in America”
http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/american_jewish_history/ - Conservative Judaism by the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary
“Articles which express a serious, critical inquiry of Jewish texts and traditions, legacy, and law”
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/resources-ideas/cj-journal - The Jewish Quarterly Review by University of Pennsylvania Press
“Regularly features review essays and book forums”
http://jqr.pennpress.org/home/ - Journal of Jewish Identities
“Empirical and theoretical articles, documents, an occasional debate section, as well as review essays and book reviews.”
http://www.jewishidentities.org/ - Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies & Gender Issues
“A joint publication of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and Indiana University Press”
http://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/publications/nashim.html
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=nashim - Philip Roth Studies by Purdue University Press
“Writings pertaining entirely or in part to Philip Roth, his fiction, and his literary and cultural significance”
http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/journals/prs - Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies by Purdue University Press
“Original, scholarly work and reviews a wide range of recent books in Judaica”
http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/journals/shofar - Studies in American Jewish Literature by Penn State University Press
“Dedicated to publishing work analyzing the place, representation, and circulation of Jews and Jewishness in American literatures”
http://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_sajl.html - Tikkun by Duke University Press
“Offers analysis and commentary that strive to bridge the cultural divide between religious and secular progressives.”
https://www.dukeupress.edu/Tikkun/
Newspaper columns
- The Algemeiner – http://www.algemeiner.com/category/arts-and-culture/book-reviews/
- The Jewish Chronicle – http://www.thejc.com/arts/books
- The Jewish Journal – http://www.jewishjournal.com/books
- The Jewish Press – http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/books/book-reviews/
- The Jewish Star – http://www.thejewishstar.com/category/books/browse.html?tab=features
- J Weekly J Lit – https://jweeklylit.wordpress.com/
- Forward: The Assimilator (ex – “The Arty Semite”) – http://forward.com/the-assimilator/
- Forward – http://forward.com/culture/books/
- Moment – http://www.momentmag.com/?s=book+review
- The New Jersey Jewish Standard – http://jstandard.com/content/artsandleisure/C71
- The New York Jewish Week – http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books
- The Philadelphia Jewish Voice – http://pjvoice.org/tag/books/
- The Times of Israel – http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/topic/books/
Personal/Author blogs
- Ann D. Koffsky – “Children’s book author, illustrator & speaker”
http://annkoffsky.com/blog/ - Book Lists by Kochava – List of books on Amazon.com sorted by topics
http://crazyjewishconvert.blogspot.com/p/book-lists.html - A Damaged Mirror – by Yael Shahar author of book by same title
http://www.damaged-mirror.com/blog/ - Erika Dreifus – “writing-related news, resources, and quotations; book reviews”
http://www.erikadreifus.com/blogs/ - Israel Drazin – “Author, rabbi, attoeny, brigader general” http://booksnthoughts.com/category/book-reviews/
- Jewish Books for Kids with Barbara Bietz – Interviews and reviews – http://jewishbooksforkids.com/
- MyJewishLearning Authors – “A guide to the contemporary Jewish authors featured on [the site’s] blog series.”
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/author-blog-index/ - Westchester Jewish Center – 4-5 reviews a month
http://wjcenter.org/Book_Review
Blogs
- Book Club by Jewish Women’s Acrhive – “An online book club allows members the convenience of discussing books from the comfort of their homes”
- The Book of Life – “A podcast & blog about Jewish books, music, film & web” – http://www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com/
- Hebrew and Jewish Studies blog – “To keep staff and students in Hebrew & Jewish Studies informed about resources in UCL (University College London) Library.” http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/library-hebrew/
- JBooks.com – “A web magazine for Jewish book reviews, news, excerpts, and more.”
http://www.jbooks.com/ - Jewish Book review – “Compiles and presents articles that are the best of what the web has to offer in Jewish Publishing news.
https://jewishbookreview.wordpress.com/ - Jewish Book Week – News and people realted to the annual event http://www.jewishbookweek.com/bl
- JewishGen Blog – Reviews related to Jewish Geneology http://jewishgen.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Review
- Jewish Studies Blog – “New and interesting developments in Jewish Studies collections and research at Columbia University Libraries and beyond.” https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/jewishstudiesatcul/
- Kol Safran – “A librarian’s comments on books, copyright, management, librarianship, and libraries that don’t get the full article treatment”
http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/
Musings of a Jewish Bookseller – “On Jewish Books, Jewish Bookselling and Jewish Booksellers” http://judaicaused.blogspot.com/ - Our Jewish Homeschool Blog – http://jewishhomeschool.blogspot.com/search/label/jewish%20books
- People of the Books – Events, conferences, awards and announcements by the Association of Jewish Libraries – http://jewishlibraries.org/blog.php
- PJ Library Blog for Jewish Families & Educators – Events, photos, tips – http://pjlibrary.org/pj-blog/
- The Seforim blog – “All about Seforim – New and old, and Jewish Bibliography”
http://seforim.blogspot.com/ - Significant Jewish Books – by Union for Reform Judaism
http://urj.org/learning/my/books/ - Sydney Taylor Book Award – “A prize for Jewish children’s & teen literature from the AJL” http://sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com/
