The Etz Bookworms have a new project, the latest novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am.

How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy.

Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia Bloch and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the meaning of home—and the fundamental question of how much aliveness one can bear.

Join us on Sunday, July 16, at 4:30 p.m. at Etz Chayim to talk about the book. Plenty of time to read a longer novel! If you can't make the meeting, read with us anyway.

The OFJCC is having an author event with Jonathan Safran Foer on Tuesday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m. It's always a treat after reading a book to hear from the author in person. I went to the Michael Chabon event at the JCL last weekend, and it really made Moonglow come alive for me.