192 ratings | 29 reviews | avg rating:4.89

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read (192)
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David’s Friends (586)

Paula

1,770 books | 1,052 friends

Jimmy

3,902 books | 648 friends

Katie Singer

166 books | 9 friends

Madi

724 books | 44 friends

Amber

982 books | 158 friends

Cherisa B

2,470 books | 1,838 friends

Eaton Hamilton

843 books | 435 friends

David Putnam

6,780 books | 5,069 friends

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David Ebenbach

Goodreads Author

Born

in Philadelphia

April 19

Website

http://www.davidebenbach.com

Twitter

debenbach

Genre

Fiction, Science Fiction, Poetry

Member Since

June 2007

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David Ebenbach: preoccupied with the human condition since 1972.

He's also (as a result of his preoccupations) the author of five books of fiction, three poetry collections, and a non-fiction guide to the creative process. His books have won numerous awards, including the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the Juniper Prize. A native of Philadelphia, David now lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he teaches creative writing and literature at Georgetown University. ...more

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David Ebenbach’s books

Average rating: 3.7 · 1,480 ratings · 396 reviews · 25 distinct works • Similar authors

	How to Mars 3.45 avg rating — 963 ratings — published 2021 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Miss Portland 4.19 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the Wilderness 4.58 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Between Camelots 4.41 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	We Were the People Who Moved 4.75 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Possible Happiness 4.30 avg rating — 20 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Guy We Didn't Invite to the Orgy: and Other Stories 4.37 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Artist's Torah by David Ebenbach (Goodreads Author), Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (Goodreads Author) (Foreword) 4.33 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What's Left to Us by Evening 4.46 avg rating — 13 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Autogeography it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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David rated a book it was amazing The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 01, 2025 04:41PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David rated a book it was amazing Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing Isola by Allegra Goodman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 01, 2025 04:39PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Isola by Allegra Goodman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Isola by Allegra Goodman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David has read Isola by Allegra Goodman (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book it was amazing The Golem of Brooklyn by Adam Mansbach (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by David Ebenbach (?)

“There is meaning in absence just as there is meaning in presence. In fact, there may be more meaning in absence. The only difference is that you have to figure out what it is.”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: humor, inspirational

3 likes

“We have been told that this is what it means to be alive.”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: humor, life

2 likes

“What you have here is a women who's travelled more than a hundred millions miles in order to become, I guess, a biologist with no bio to ology”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: fiction, humor, science, science-fiction-author

2 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Around the Year i...: Rachel G.'s Summer Challenge 2021	9	88	Jun 28, 2021 10:14AM
Around the Year i...: Summer Reading Challenge 21: Completion Thread	159	271	Sep 01, 2021 06:00PM
SciFi and Fantasy...: 2024 Zodiac Challenge	111	893	Dec 28, 2024 10:34AM
Play Book Tag: Announcing the Tag for October	43	72	Oct 04, 2025 07:47AM
SciFi and Fantasy...: * Book Sales!	1202	1292	Dec 01, 2025 06:03AM
Science Fiction A...: * What are you currently reading?	2855	1270	Dec 01, 2025 09:05PM

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David’s Quotes

“It is not enough for the Jew to rest content with his own spiritual ascent, the elevation of his soul in closeness to G-d, he must strive to draw spirituality down into the world and into every part of it – the world of his work and his social life – until not only do they not distract him from his pursuit of G-d, but they become a full part of it.”
― (R. Menachem M. Schneerson)

tags: inspirational, judaism, kabbalah, photography, spirituality

2 likes

“What do you think it means?" she says in a low, conspiratorial voice.
"What do YOU think it means?" I say. It's an old psychologist move, that one.”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: dry-humor, psychology

1 likes

tags: humor, inspirational

3 likes

“We have been told that this is what it means to be alive.”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: humor, life

2 likes

“Holding hands in spacesuits is not very much like holding actual hands, but it's something.”
― David Ebenbach, How to Mars

tags: hand-holding, romance-in-space, spacesuits

1 likes

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David’s Groups

Short Story lovers — 410 members — last activity Oct 13, 2024 01:51PM
For people who especially love short stories, and don't care who knows it! ...more

¡ POETRY ! — 22608 members — last activity Nov 19, 2025 04:25PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

Philadelphia Goodreaders — 116 members — last activity Jun 07, 2018 10:56AM
This is a space for readers and writers who love the City of Brotherly Love, the City that Loves You Back. Whether you're living there now or are in e ...more

Vermont College MFAers — 23 members — last activity Dec 16, 2008 05:26AM
This group is for current or former Vermont College students or faculty members, looking for some online discussion and community with like-minded wri ...more

Flash Fiction — 312 members — last activity Feb 22, 2023 07:56AM
Flash is a short-short story characterized by brevity and intensity of the language. It borderlines poetry and some people call it “prose poem.” Howev ...more

A Place for Poets — 455 members — last activity May 15, 2021 02:36AM
This group is for those who believe in the cross-cultural necessity and permanence of poetry. Share and discuss your favourite poets and the writing p ...more

Goodreads Librarians Group — 301988 members — last activity 0 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Oberlin — 70 members — last activity Sep 30, 2011 11:12PM
For Obies past, present, and future.

Judaism — 74 members — last activity Jul 27, 2015 01:22AM
This group is for anyone interested in reading literature related to Judaism.

The Wonderful World of Jews — 73 members — last activity Sep 11, 2018 10:21AM
If you'd like to discuss a book or bit of pop culture pap on Jews, Judaism, comparative religion, or other Jew-related topics, please do! ...more

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