GOLDA's Summer Reading List

GOLDA gang, 

It’s been an intense few weeks. I feel like I’ve been spending all my time on my phone trying to keep up with the news. I checked, and it’s true: my screen time was up 25% this week. I’m too mortified to tell you my daily Instagram average. 

With the ceasefire between Israel and Iran seeming to stick, and a high-octane New York City democratic mayoral primary behind us, it feels like a good time to stop and take a deep breath. It’s officially summer, so why not step away from our phones and pick up a great book.  

At the beginning of the year we featured the Five Books We’re Excited About in 2025, and we’re following that up today with our official GOLDA Summer Reading List. I asked some of the smartest and most voracious readers I know to give us their picks. There were no ground rules: the books didn’t have to be new, or necessarily even Jewish. They just had to be piquing their interest in this moment. 

But first, a few of our GOLDA staff picks:

Melting Point, by Rachel Cockerell 

This wildly original retelling of the very true story of Rachel Cockerell’s grandfather David Jochelmann, who along with novelist Israel Zangwill inspired the relocation of thousands of Russian Jews to Galveston, Texas in the early 1900s, is filled with resounding echoes for today.

Tahini Baby, by Eden Grinshpan

Yes, we’re throwing a cookbook into the mix because the world needs more tahini right now—and Eden shows us how to incorporate the ingredient in such a fun and accessible way.

Gabby Deutch, senior national correspondent at Jewish Insider, recommends:

The Amen Effect, by Rabbi Sharon Brous

This is a lovely book about one of the most nourishing parts of being Jewish: community. I read it just before my grandma died, and Rabbi Brous' writing became even more meaningful as I leaned on my community and Jewish mourning customs in the aftermath.

The God of the Woods, By Liz Moore

This is a can't-put-down novel about a mysterious death at a summer camp, mixed with difficult family dynamics and wealth. It's a perfect, engrossing way to start the summer.

Jordan Rodman, VP Senior Director of PR at Knopf at Penguin Random House, recommends:

Heartburn, by Nora Ephron

Heartburn by Nora Ephron is a book I will always come back to. I will never forget my first reading, how impressed I was with its boldness, its frankness, its biting wit. How Nora writes about her pain with humor and wisdom. How it’s nonfiction masquerading as a novel in the best possible way. This is a book with teeth and I am immensely jealous of every person who gets to read it for the first time, but honestly the re-read is pretty special too!

Editor’s note: we are extremely conflicted about using the new cover here, but couldn’t find a high enough resolution version of the classic cover to use. GOLDA culpa.

Dinner at the Center of the Earth, by Nathan Englander

Nathan is world renowned for his iconic short stories, but this is his first literary thriller. Picture an anxious Jewish spy whose sole confidant is his Jewish mother. Brilliant. A prisoner in a secret cell and the complex relationship between prisoner and long-term prison guard. A novel which spans continents and political backgrounds and moral ambiguities. In classic Nathan form every sentence is a masterpiece.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I feel like everyone thinks of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as his timeless classic, but they are WRONG. As Steinbeck says, “Everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this.” East of Eden is my favorite book of all time. In fact, the book hinges on a Hebrew word which I have tattooed on my body (don’t tell my grandparents). It is a family generational epic which explores the notion of free will and good versus evil (and is home to the most evil character I have ever read). It is a biblical allegory of the story of Cain and Abel. It is a magnum opus. It is the novel of all novels. If I could just read this book over and over for the rest of my life, it would not be enough. Reverse Dayenu!

Brian Schaefer, a New York-based writer who contributes regularly to The New York Times and has written for The New Yorker, Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post.

Middlemarch, by George Eliot

For summer reading, I like to balance a fat, elusive classic (ideally tackled with a partner) and slim, artful romps. A few years ago, my mom and I read Middlemarch together and, once we adapted to the florid language (quicker than you’d think), both found it funny, surprising and delightfully incisive. We felt well-rewarded for our effort, proud of our accomplishment, and grateful to have shared the journey. 

Less, by Andrew Sean Greer

For a smart, satisfying quickie, I love Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer-winning Less, a finely crafted and entertaining world tour with touching reflections on love and relationships—not unlike reading George Eliot, but far shorter, gayer and with airplanes.

Preorder Brian’s debut novel, Town & Country, which comes out in September—and owes a debt to his selections here.

Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt—a New York City-based writer; editor at The Real Deal; and rebbetzin of the Altneu Synagogue—recommends: 

The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann

If you love WWII fiction, this is for you: the story of a German film director who leaves his homeland and then finds himself back in the claws of the Reich, navigating regime pressure to create propaganda. Written in snappy dialogue, the narrative’s turns feel cinematic and surreal. Brilliant and chilling.

The Third Temple, by Yishai Sarid

I am also still thinking about this dystopian futuristic novel by Yishai Sarid, published in 2015 in Hebrew but recently translated into English. The superstitious savta in me trembles to even talk about this title right now because it opens with Tel Aviv being “evaporated” by a country that is obviously Iran.

Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of the Jewish Book Council, recommends two books recently reviewed by JBC: 

The Scrapbook, by Heather Clark

Heather Clark is an accom­plished writer of lit­er­ary his­to­ry, and the sim­plic­i­ty of the premise of her debut nov­el proves decep­tive … Through Anna and Christoph, only fifty years removed from World War II, read­ers are quick­ly lulled past the sto­ry of girl-meets-boy into a reck­on­ing with history’s rever­ber­at­ing hor­rors.  

Excerpted from the Jewish Book Council review written by Megan Peck Shub.

Autocorrect, by Etgar Keret

Giv­en their range and quan­ti­ty, the thir­ty-plus sto­ries com­piled in Etgar Keret’s new col­lec­tion, Auto­cor­rect, con­sti­tute what feels like a jour­ney through not only the author’s mind but also his soul … In Auto­cor­rect, we blast through par­al­lel uni­vers­es, cyn­i­cal cos­mic game shows, sim­u­la­tions, and the afterlife. 

-Excerpted from the Jewish Book Council review written by Megan Peck Shub.

GOLDA may earn a commission from any purchases made through book links in this article.

Thanks to all our contributors for their thoughtful recommendations. Now go get reading! And let us know what else is on your list.  

Stay GOLDA,

Stephanie