Why-aanot: Even More Reading Suggestions

Rabbi Prince's Reading List

All books by Rabbi David Aaron
All Books by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan
All Books by Nechama Lebowitz
Discover by Rabbi Dov Moshe Lipman
By His Light – Essays of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein
Ner Uziel - By Rabbi Uziel Milevsky
Off the Derech – by Faranack Margolese
תורה לדעת – Rabbi Matis Blum
הררי קדם - "Harerei Kedem I & II" by Michal Zalman Shurkin
On Repentance: The Thought and Oral Discourses of Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik
A Student's Obligation: Advice from the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto
The Promise – Chaim Potok

Mrs. Sinensky's Reading, Movie, Game & Activity List

The Matrix (movie)
Redemption, Prayer, Torah Study in Tradition 17:2, R' Soloveitchik (my favorite Rav Solovetchik article)
Wit, Margaret Edson (play that's fun to analyze)
Halachos of Brachos, R' Forst (super-practical, well organized, clear, comprehensive book about Brachot. Great to learn with a friend!)
Set (the game-great for sharpening your Gemara skills. Someone once told me that it should be renamed the "tzad hashaveh" game!)
Watch your favorite T.V. show and write down all the "hidden" messages that you can pick up on
Abraham's Journey, R' Soloveitchik (Essays about the life and character of Avraham Avinue. I read it on Pesach and couldn't put it down!)
The Sabbath, Heschel (A book that will change your perspective on and appreciation of Shabbat and Chagim)

Ms. Gordon's List

As a Driven Leaf - Milton Steinberg
Jewish Matters - Articles by different authors on different topics (God, Faith, Tzniut, Prayer etc.)
Exodus or Mila 18 - Leon Uris
O Jerusalem - Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
Anything by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Chief Rabbi of England)
Anything by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein (Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Posek of Maayanot)
Lonely Man of Faith - Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik
The Modest Way - Rav Ellensohn's book on Tzniut. Has all opinions and sources with English translations.
Jewish Literacy - Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Movie: Hiding & Seeking

I think I'm going to enter my list piecemeal, to allow me to give it some more thought, and talk a bit about why I'm recommending the books that I do, without having a post so long that no one reads it. I'll start with four.

As a Driven Leaf (Milton Steinberg) - I add my vote to the others but attach a warning: What makes the book so wonderful (in addition to the issues of faith & doubt highlighted by Mrs. Goldberg) is what scares me a bit too. It is the fictionalized story of a real historic figure -Elisha ben Avuyah (Acher) - a Tana who became a heretic. For the first half of the book, the primary characters are Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Meir, Bruriah, Ben Azzai etc. Many of the Talmudic figures we study every day, and getting to know them in a real-life way is thrilling. And much of the story is based on legitimate sources. The disclaimer is, that it's not real-life. The gaps filled in by the author dwarf the actual historic content, making the finished product truly fictional. That said, the glimpse into their lives, the very readable style, the big issues raised in an intriguing but not ponderous way, and just the wonderful drama make this a book you will love.
A Return to Modesty (Wendy Shalit) - This is unlike any other "Tzniut" book you'll ever read. Ms. Shalit's story makes the book so unique. She grew up non-observant, and what drew her to Orthodoxy was the appeal of the rules of tzniut. Therefore, with no pre-existing agenda, she lived the secular system, straight through the typicalUniversity campus and found it wanting, and found what was missing in classic Judaism's halachik and philosophical view of women. Using all sorts of data (very much including womens' magazines), she makes the case that modern sensibilities about gender relationships are doing major damage to women, and that the formula to repair that damage lies in the roots of our tradition. You can disagree with her at the end, but her perspective is eye-opening. (Disclaimer: I'm not endorsing the cover, which was not chosen by the author, and was removed from my copy).
Turbulent Souls (Stephen Dubner) - The memoir of a successful journalist, raised as a fervent Christian, who lapsed into a secular adulthood tracing his Jewish roots.
The Geography of Bliss (Eric Weiner) - I read it on Ms. Socken's advice, and though it took me a bit to get in to, I ended up enjoying it a lot. A reporter for NPR travels to the happiest and least happy countries on Earth to see what lessons about happiness he can learn. The chapters that spoke most to me (though I doubt many of you will choose the same ones) were Iceland (which contains what I consider to be the single most important line of the book - I won't give it away) & Thailand.

I'll give some more a different time, but I have midterms to grade. Please let us know what you think of the blog so far, submit questions you would like to see addressed or helpful suggestions at questions@maayanot.org.

2012 me talking for a second: For now I'll make one addition to my list - the book I'm in the middle of right now. Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last By Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. Read the article, but his story is truly remarkable, and the book is very uplifting, even though it's very much a Holocaust book.