MCJC Book Club Selects a Top Pick

If you want to request a copy of the next book up for discussion by the MCJC Book Club from your local library, best do it quickly. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is topping many ‘best book of the year’ and awards lists which is making it a popular request at libraries, according to MCJC’s book club facilitator, Rachel Kamin, Director of Lifelong Learning at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El.  The group will discuss the book on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 pm on Zoom.

MCJC’s Book Club meets approximately every other month to discuss Jewish-themed literature and is open to all.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is, according to the New York Times, “A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel…charming, smart, heart-blistering and heart healing.”   According to the book’s description, when a skeleton is unearthed in the small, close-knit community of Chicken Hill, Pennsylvania, in 1972, an unforgettable cast of characters—living on the margins of white, Christian America—closely guard a secret, especially when the truth is revealed about what happened and the part the town’s white establishment played in it.

For its subsequent book gathering, scheduled for Thursday, April 4 at 7 pm, the group will discuss Leaving Eastern Parkway by Matthew Daub.  The novel tells the story of 15-year-old Zev Altshul, who is suddenly orphaned and desperate to escape Brooklyn’s Hasidic community.  He sets course across the U.S., where he finds himself in Urbana, IL, playing handball to support himself.  The book features locations familiar to MCJC readers, including Chicago and Urbana/Champaign. 

While the February gathering will be exclusively on Zoom, the April gathering may feature an in-person option. Check the MCJC website and the weekly e-nouncements for more information and the Zoom links.