pickA woman moves to Israel as a young wife, but divorces soon after and ends up with a complete sense of insecurity, loneliness and fear that she‘ll never have another chance to become a wife and a mother. She rediscovers herself through a very structured religious practice - the study of Talmud. It‘s a personal and captivating narrative with links to Talmudic texts. #Hanukkahchallenge #imthatjew #told_by_a_woman
pickThis book won both a Newbery Honor and was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor, which is how it got on our book club‘s radar. We all learned some new-to-us history and appreciated the scope of the book. It moves through several generations of a family, taking place in four different countries and with four different protagonists. Lots to take in!
This was my April #BookSpin pick.
I spotted a menorah on the cover and grabbed this for #ISpyBingo, not noticing at the time what an unusual menorah it is. This is a delightful multicultural story about a girl visiting her aunt Luisa, who comes from Mexico. Isobel not only learns some new Sephardic Hanukkah customs, but also about her aunt's creativity and love for animals and nature. I would have loved to read this to my kid when she was little.
pickGross deals with old Jewish issues in an original way: assimilation vs. isolation,small-town community vs. opening up to modern big cities,the Shoah,survivor‘s guilt&intergenerational trauma.The tone is rarely sad,the story told with humour&love for its characters &the fictional village of Kreskol. The book can be summarized quickly. After a dramatic divorce, Pesha, the wife, disappears, followed shortly after by her ex-husband.
