Book Club Edition: Asha Lemmie

Elizabeth Barnhill is the book buyer for Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. 

In this episode, we chat about how Elizabeth landed her dream job, how she handpicks books for costumers all over the country, her favorite book recommendations  and much more. 

Here are a few of Elizabeth's favorite books:

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Bully Market by Jamie Fiore Higgins

Go As A River by Shelley Read

To connect with Elizabth you can reach out to her a @wacoreads 

To purchase books or request a Face Time appointment to shop the shelves, you can reach out to @fabledbookshop

Click here to join the  Boss Maidel Bookclub and get Elizabeth's summer picks.

In this episode, we chat about Rachel's new book Atomic Anna.

From the critically acclaimed author of A Bend in the Stars, an epic adventure as three generations of women work together and travel through time to prevent the Chernobyl disaster and right the wrongs of their past.

In 1986, nuclear scientist Anna Berkova is asleep in her bed in the Soviet Union when Chernobyls reactor melts down. The energy surge accidentally sends her through time. When she wakes up, shes in 1992 and discovers Molly, her estranged daughter, shot in the chest. Should Anna travel in time to save her daughter or stop Chernobyl?

Anna goes to 60s Philadelphia, where Molly is coming of age as an adopted refusenik in a family full of secrets. Molly finds solace in comic books, drawing her own series, Atomic Anna. But when she meets volatile Viktor, their romance sets her life on a dangerous course. Anna then seeks out Mollys daughter, Raisa, in the 80s. Raisa is a lonely teen and math prodigy, who finds new issues of Atomic Anna in unexpected places. Each comic challenges her to solve equations leading to two impossible conclusions Time travel is real and so is the strange old woman claiming to be her grandmother.

These three remarkable women must work together across time to prevent the greatest nuclear disaster of the twentieth century, but simply because you can change the past, does it mean you should?

You can follow Rachel at www.rachelbarenbaum.com

You can listen to her podcast Check This Out with Rachel Barenbaum here.

To join the Boss Maidel Booklcub for $5.99 per month click here.

LAUREN FOX, who earned her M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota, is the author of the novels Days of Awe, Still Life with Husband, and Friends Like Us. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Parenting, Psychology Today, The Rumpus, and Salon. She lives in Milwaukee with her husband and two daughters.

In this episode, we talk about Lauren's book Send for Me.

Annelise is a dreamer: imagining her future while working at her parents' popular bakery in Feldenheim, Germany, anticipating all the delicious possibilities yet to come. There are rumors that anti-Jewish sentiment is on the rise, but Annelise and her parents can't quite believe that it will affect them; they're hardly religious at all. But as Annelise falls in love, marries, and gives birth to her daughter, the dangers grow closer: a brick thrown through her window; a childhood friend who cuts ties with her; customers refusing to patronize the bakery. Luckily Annelise and her husband are given the chance to leave for America, but they must go without her parents, whose future and safety are uncertain.

Two generations later, in a small Midwestern city, Annelise's granddaughter, Clare, is a young woman newly in love. But when she stumbles upon a trove of her grandmother's letters from Germany, she sees the history of her family's sacrifices in a new light, and suddenly she's faced with an impossible choice: the past, or her future. A novel of dazzling emotional richness that is based on letters from Lauren Fox's own family, Send for Meis a major departure for this acclaimed author, an epic and intimate exploration of mothers and daughters, duty and obligation, hope and forgiveness.

Send for me is a New York Times Best Seller and A Today Show #ReadWithJenna book club pick.

Books discussed in this episode:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Northern Spy by Flynn Berry

The Island Child by Molly Aitken

Michal Oshman is Head of Company Culture, Diversity and Inclusion at TikTok Europe and formerly responsible for international leadership and team development at Facebook. Throughout her career, Michal has trained and coached hundreds of tech leaders. She has three university degrees in psychodynamic and systemic thinking, sociology and anthropology. Michal lives with her husband and their four children in London, UK.

As a mentor for leaders in top global companies, Michal created a unique personal growth methodology based on the life-changing principles of Jewish wisdom. It is easy to think that the daily challenges we experience in the 21st century are new and unlike any that people faced in the past. Michal draws on her own heritage and a wide range of Jewish teachings to offer practical advice for common concerns, such as a broken heart, parenting, overcoming setbacks and getting the most out of your career.

You can purchase Michal's book here.

Elyssa Friedland is the author of four novels and a forthcoming picture book. She attended Yale University, where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News, and is a graduate of Columbia Law School. She worked as an associate at a major firm before turning to writing full-time. Elyssa currently teaches creative writing at Yale. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, LitHub, POPSUGAR, RealSimple.com, Bustle, Modern Bride, New York magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS MarketWatch.com, Yale Alumni Magazine and more. Elyssa resides in New York City with her husband and three young children.

In this episode, we chat about Elyssa's latest book: Last Summer At The Golden Hotel. In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families – best friends and business partners – have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be – and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds. As the facilities and management begin to fall apart, a tempting offer to sell forces the two families together again to make a heart-wrenching decision. Can they save their beloved Golden or is it too late?

You can follow Elyssa here.

You can purchase Elyssa's book here.

Click here to purchase tickets to my Zoom event with author Nadia Hashimi in conjunction with the Jewish Public Library.

In this episode, I chat with Esty Perman who is a Chabad shlucha ( emissary) in Kansas. In addition to her numerous responsibilities as a preschool teacher, running various learning and community programs etc. Esty is a busy mom trying to juggle it all. She shares her experiences and thoughts on motherhood, spirituality, her journey with secondary infertility etc. on her Instagram account.

The quote I share in the beginning of the episode is from Wisdom to Heal the Earth: Meditations & Teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson by Tzvi Freeman.

"Each journey the soul travels takes her higher.

Some Journeys are painful, but with purpose. The purpose overwhelms the pain and transforms it into joy.

Some journeys are painful, but with no purpose in sight.There is no medicine to wash away the pain.

There is no medicine, other than faith that ever journey the soul travels takes her higher. Some so much higher, she cannot even imagine their meaning. Until she arrives."

Books that were mentioned:

How To Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePERA

60 Days: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays by Rabbi Simon Jacobson

What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid? by Michal Oshman

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Beata Heuman: Every Room Should Sing

This is the episode where  Rabbi Shais Taub talks about the concept of attaining a level where we thank G-d for the perceived bad a swell as the good in our lives. 

Ruth Druart has been working in international schools in Paris since 1993. Four years ago, she completed a masters in international education, exploring the topic of third culture children and their sense of belonging- a theme that runs through her novel. She has been writing for the last nineteen years  in her spare time and  runs a writing group in Paris. She has three sons with her French husband.

In this episode, we talk about Ruth's book While Paris Slept. Told from alternating perspectives and set in a dual timeline (during and post World War II), While Paris Slept tells the story of a young woman who is forced to make the hardest decision of her life during one of the darkest times in history. While Paris Slept is a tribute to the kindness, compassion and love that humans can achieve even under the direst of circumstances.

You can follow Ruth here.

You can connect with Ruth on Instagram here.

Purchase While Paris Slept here.

Ruth's recent favorite reads are:

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

This Must Be The Place by Maggie O'Farrell

As soon as she learned of the discovery of the first-century tombstone that inspired Rebel Daughter, Lori Banov Kaufmann wanted to know more. She was so intrigued by the unlikely but true love story the stone revealed that she embarked on a more than ten-year quest with some of the world's leading scholars and archaeologists to bring the real characters to life as accurately as possible.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Lori was a strategy consultant for high-tech companies. She has an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a masters from Harvard. She lives in Israel with her husband and four adult children.

You can find Lori here.

You can follow Lori here .

Asha Lemmie is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Fifty Words For Rain. After graduating from Boston College with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, she relocated to New York City where she worked in book publishing. Asha writes historical fiction that focuses on bringing unique perspectives to life. In normal times, she divides her time between New York, London, and Kyoto. 

Fifty Words for Rain is Asha’s first novel. You can purchase it here.

In this episode, we talk about the inspiration and story behind Asha's best selling book Fifty Words for Rain. Asha started writing this book at the young age of sixteen years old! We chat about what drew her to write about Japan post WWII, how she has dealt with the huge success of the book ( Asha had a fear of public speaking) and why it's important to NOT choose a book by its Good Reads rating!