The Latest Meme: Out with the I-Pods and In with the Books - New & Improved

Ezzie, of SerandEz, tagged me to do the latest meme - namely, What's On Your I-Pod? - that is making the rounds around the Jewish Blogsphere (presumably, after it had already made is around the rest of the Blogsphere 1st). Now, don't confuse this meme with its cousin, the meme 7.

Here is how the I-Pod Meme works:

1. Turn on your mp3 player.
2. Hit shuffle.
3. Put the first fifteen songs that come up in a post. No matter how embarrassing. No cheating!

Ok, now for the technical difficulties:

1) I don't own an I-Pod - I guess I am just not "with it".

Ezzie's response:

Since a few of those pointed to say they don't have one... If you don't have an MP3 player, then cheat: Put down 15 CD's pointed to randomly, or if you have music on your computer, do as I did and play them shuffled.

2) I don't own 15 CD's - almost all of the CD's in the house belong to my wife, and do not reflect my taste in music.

3) I don't download music onto my computer.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like music as much as anyone, and the radio is always on at the office, it's just not something that I am willing to spend money on (or time - to download songs).

But, I do spend a lot of money and time on books, so here is a list of 15 books that I have either read recently, think is an exceptional book, or am currently reading (This list does not include sifrei kodesh, although maybe it should):

1) Jews for Nothing - Dov Aharoni Fisch - currently reading - On Cults, Intermarriage and Assimilation that are all plaguing American Jewry

2) Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism - Aviezer Ravitzky - started reading, but stopped when I picked up #1

3) The Haj - Leon Uris - recently read - gives an Arab perspective to the founding of the State of Israel

4) The Siege - Connor Cruise O'Brien - started reading, but stopped when I picked up #2 - one of the best historical accounts of Zionism and the State of Israel (through the 1980's)

5) O' Jerusalem - Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre - 1st book I ever read about Israel / Zionism - a thrilling account of the establishment of the State of Israel - a must read

6) Exodus - Leon Uris - A classic

7) 90 Minutes at Entebbe - William Stevenson - A book full of Jewish Pride and reminds us of what the Jewish State can and should be about

8) Perfidy - Ben Hecht - A closer look at the role of the Yishuv and American Jewry during the Holocaust - a difficult but important read

9) A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust - David S. Wyman, Rafael Medoff - related to #8 - This is a book about someone who tried to do something and all of the challenges that he was faced with (from within American Jewry)

10) From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine - Joan Peters - Want to know what the Arab - Jewish conflict is all about and what its roots are? Read this book.

11) Jewish Statesmanship: Lest Israel Fall - Paul Eidelberg - A blueprint for electoral / judicial reform in Israel that will help strengthen Israel as a Jewish State

12) Our Challenge - Rabbi Meir Kahane - A vision for what the Jewish People and State should aspire towards

13) Raid on the Sun : Inside Israel's Secret Campaign that Denied Saddam the Bomb - Rodger Claire - I figured this book might be relevant again (think Iran)

14) The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute Annual Assessment 2004-2005: Between Thriving And Decline - Rami Tal (Editor) - Recently bought - It's pretty self explanatory

15) Letters to Talia (Hebrew) - Prequel (sort of) to Rabbi Chaim Sabato's Adjusting Sights - A correspondence between an Israeli Hesder soldier and a secular Kibbutznik girl - very powerful

I am sure that there are books that should be on this list that I left off, but as I am not writing this post from my personal library, I had to put this list together by memory.

I am a bit hesitant to tag anyone with this updated Book Meme, as I don't know how much people read anymore, but I will tag the following people who I believe to be intelligent people who know how to read, or just people whose blog I like (who might not be intelligent) - I will leave it to each person to determine which category he / she might be in:

Jameel, Ezzie, Shoshana, Natan, Joe Settler, Elder of Ziyon, Soccer Dad, Smooth, Tovya, Purple Parrot, Don - On the Contrary, Cosmic X

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