Coming Soon: The Five Books

Welcome to the five books where Jewish authors take us on a journey through the books that shaped them. From classics you might remember from childhood to hidden gems you've never heard of, step into the minds of your favorite authors. I think I just picked books that made me go, I didn't know we were allowed to do this, I didn't know that we could do this. I can't think of a singular other book that impacted me as much as this book. Join us for candid conversations about the five books that made these authors who they are. We'll hear about the books that helped them understand who they are Jewishly, the books that changed their worldview, and we'll get the inside scoop on a new book they've just published. You know this feels very obvious but it made me realize that Jewishness in literature could be interesting. My name is Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen, I'm a book lover and a former literary agent. I wanted to create this podcast because to me books are always the answer to living with more empathy. It can invite us into the mind of someone who's very very different from us. Books are how I've traveled to places I've never been and encountered people, cultures, beliefs and ideas I never otherwise would have. Especially when you're young you don't really see outside your town, outside your community. Like you only know the world immediately around you and this book really opened my eyes. Understanding each other with more depth and nuance feels urgently important right now. I appeared on a blacklist and at that point I hadn't been that old spoken. I thought I could kind of pass and hide but once I was on that list I realized how scared I had been and I also realized that there was no hiding that was almost the most galvanizing thing for me to say like here we are again. I wanted to talk to Jewish authors to better understand how they make sense of their Jewish identity. I wanted to know how they've metabolized the books they've read to tell new stories and so it seemed fitting to return to the five books. I think our texts and they got a lot of crazy stuff in our texts and they've got some bad stuff in them too but they define us because they have some great values and they define us as a people. This is our history. This is where we came from. This is what we believe and these are the things we aspire to and I think that of everything we have of all our practices of whatever we have it goes back to texts. The five books is produced with advisory and promotional support from the Jewish Book Council. Join us December 3rd for our first episode wherever you get your podcasts.