We’re a community of readers who are committed to Jewish stories.
Jewish books deserve space—in our homes, in our conversations, and on our shelves. But in today’s publishing landscape, these books need champions. Nu Reads is a curated, reader-powered book subscription series that builds community, strengthens the Jewish literary market, and ensures Jewish voices are heard—and read.
Nu: A classic Jewish expression that means “So?” “Well?” “What’s new?” or “Tell me already!” It’s a question, a nudge, an invitation to begin. At Nu Reads, it’s all of the above. Because when it comes to Jewish books, we’re always asking: “Nu—what should I read next?”
In this novel of friendship and hard-won hope, five lives are entangled across time by one story, saved to a floppy disk in the 1980s and destined to ripple across the centuries. It’s 1983 and Jewish teenager Becks can’t wait to get the hell out of Cincinnati. She spends her time blasting her Walkman and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, the only person who understood her, is dead. But she has work to do: he left her a half-finished game to complete—one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness. Little does she know, what Becks is making will echo far into the future and shape the lives of a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a flinty sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. All are bound together by their search for connection—and by a futuristic traveler on a mysterious mission through space. A novel about our deep interconnectedness, Homebound is a clear-eyed, hopeful adventure into humanity’s future and capacity for love.
A queer Jewish teenager whose bubbe hands her a floppy disk containing the video game her deceased uncle left for her. The captain of the ship Babylon, who navigates an unrecognizable, flooded world. A scientist, Tamar Portman, who creates an advanced robot named Chaya, a collector of stories. All of these characters and more make up the intricate, inventive constellation that is Homebound. While the novel takes place in distant times and faraway locales, it movingly explores the close-to-home themes of memory, loneliness, and the search for human connection.