Hanukkah Gifts You Can Buy TODAY

So tomorrow is the first night of the 8 of Hanukkah. You need a gift - and fast! What to do? You can go to any bookstore and look for the below. There should also be seasonal CD's available. 

TIP: Google specialty shops in or near your town and if far away, let your fingers do the walking - call before you go and ask if they have a CD or something you want. If so, ask if they will hold it for you. If they say no, offer your credit card, and get down there today to pick it up. 

Worst case, send food! Go to your Kosher section at the grocery store, or go to a thrift store to pick up a basket and buy up fruit, nuts, teas, honey, and a few mugs and put them all inside with a ribbon. Or, make a CD of your own favorite music - doesn't even have to be seasonal. This makes a wonderful gift. Just remember to type up the songs and artists in order of the playlist so they can know who did that wonderful song...

As for the books below that you can't find in a local bookstore: Amazon and Barnes and Noble should have overnight shipping. 

The list called Amazon Gift Ideas for Hannukah can be found HERE, containing several books of note.
Among them, one of my top 10 favorites: Mans Search For Meaning by Victor Frankel. This covers experiences in concentration camps - how in that which we routinely liken to hell on earth, man can still find beauty and meaning in life. Since most of us can say our lives are better than those circumstances, it's a pretty profound idea to look around and change your perspective on EVERYTHING toward the positive,  no matter what is happening for you. Read more in Wikipedia. From $6.50 in paperback to $11.99 on sale.




And a collection that is getting quite a bit of attention, written by an old friend of mine, Racelle Rosette Schaeffer, called Moving Waters. On Sale for $11.90 on Amazon

The Jewish Book of Why: this best-seller has been an essential resource for Jews seeking to better understand their own heritage and for non-Jews desirous of understanding the lifestyle of their neighbors. On SALE for $16.47 on Amazon




And here is an amazing list that I found on Erika Dreifus's blog, entitled my year in Jewish Books:

  1. Wherever You Go, by Joan Leegant (R)
  2. Those Who Save Us, by Jenna Blum (G)
  3. Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories, by Edith Pearlman (P)
  4. HHhH, by Laurent Binet (trans. Sam Taylor) (R)
  5. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander (R)
  6. New American Haggadah, by Jonathan Safran Foer (trans. Nathan Englander) (R)
  7. Oy! Only Six? Why Not More? Six Word Memoirs on Jewish Life, edited by Smith Magazine (Contributor Copy)
  8. After Testimony: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Holocaust Narrative for the Future, edited by James Phelan, Jakob Lothe, Susan Rubin Suleiman (P)
  9. Night Swim, by Jessica Keener (P)
  10. Eyes, Stones, by Elana Bell (L)
  11. You Saved Me, Too: What a Holocaust Survivor Taught Me about Living, Dying, Fighting, Loving, and Swearing in Yiddish, by Susan Kushner Resnick (R)
  12. The Liberal Case for Israel: Debunking Eight Crazy Lies About the Jewish State, by Jonathan Miller (L [Kindle Lending Library])
  13. Moving Waters, by Racelle Rosett (R & G)
  14. Four Stories, by Etgar Keret (P)
  15. Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games, by David Clay Large(R)
  16. The Innocents, by Francesca Segal (R) (see also the JBC Twitter Book Chat with the author)
  17. The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu (R) (see also the JBC Twitter Book Chat with the author)
  18. Berlin Cantata, by Jeffrey Lewis (R)
  19. Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, by Etgar Keret (trans. Nathan Englander, Miriam Shlesinger, and Sondra Silverston) (P)
  20. A Brilliant Novel Already in the Works, by Yuvi Zalkow (R)
  21. Zayde Comes to Live, by Sheri Sinykin (R)
  22. The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter that Transformed the Middle East, by Abraham Rabinovich (P)
  23. The World Without You, by Joshua Henkin (R)
  24. A Wedding in Great Neck, by Yona Zeldis McDonough (R)
  25. Life Goes On, by Hans Keilson (trans. Damion Searls), (R)
  26. There’s Jews in Texas? by Debra L. Winegarten (L [Kindle Lending Library])
  27. Famous Drownings in Literary History: Essays on 21st-century Jewishness, by Kevin Haworth (P)
  28. The Polish Boxer, by Eduardo Halfon (trans. Daniel Hahn, Ollie Brock, Lisa Dillman, Thomas Bunstead, and Anne McLean) (R & G)
  29. The Curse of Gurs: Way Station to Auschwitz, by Werner Frank (P & G)
  30. The Middlesteins, by Jami Attenberg (R)
  31. The Pretty Girl, by Debra Spark (Debra Spark and I exchanged copies of our respective books)
  32. Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me, by Harvey Pekar and J.T. Waldman (P)
  33. Into the Wilderness, by David Ebenbach (P)
You can see my past Hanukkah posts by CLICKING HERE: 

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