Al Tesaper Le'akhicha (Don't Tell Your Brother) [Hebrew]

By Meir Shalev

This book is very different from older books of the same author that I've read. It seems more shallow, more crude, with elements of a romance novel. It tells the story of an annual meeting between brothers, the older one, and the hero of the story is extraordinarily handsome with all the benefits that are associated with such characteristic. During this one most recent meeting the older brother tells a story that happened 20 year earlier (this is where the romance/suspense aspect comes into play). In the midst of this storytelling are interwoven memories of both brothers of their parents and their lovers. [264 pp.]

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Eshet Harav, Eshet Habishoph (The Rabbi's Wife, The Bishop's Wife) [Hebrew]

By Chayuta Deutsch and David Jacobson

This book follows the story of a woman who married a young man who became the lead rabbi of a town in Medieval Spain, and who later converted to Christianity following the 1391 anti-Jewish violence events, took their kids with him, and later became the bishop of that same town. The book also follows the person who decides to discover everything she can about this woman, who at the time -- just before Covid started -- was just a footnote, and her collaboration with a Spanish history professor during a time of closures and isolation, and her life with taking care of an aging mother and a recently-diagnosed Alzheimer's husband. [320 pp.]

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Shopgirl

By Steve Martin

Set up in Los Angeles, this is the story of a young woman who's an artist by night and an unambitious luxury-store sales person by day, and two of her lovers. One is older and wealthy, hopping to LA on business trips and spend time with other women while in his home base in Seattle. The other is a young, socially-awkward guy, who's obsessed about amps. By the end of the book they all go through transformations and become better versions of themselves. [130 pp.]

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Moses, Man of the Mountain

By Zora Neale Hurston 

Reading this book was such a pleasure. It kept reminding me how silly people's request that you don't "reveal the ending" is. It really doesn't matter if you know the story, because how it's made (written/directed) should be the thing that draws you in. So here's a story everybody knows, Moses from the bible. And still it's so beautifully written and told. Of course, it's also an allegory to, and analysis of, the state of African Americans in the United States before and after the Civil War. It was really fun reading it right after reading her memoir, Dust Tracks on a Road, because some issues she touches on there (such as My People, My People!) are referenced here. [352 pp., including extras]

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