The Jewish Dog (Hakelev Hayehudi) - Hebrew

by Asher Kravitz

There was a time when I wanted to write a book from the point of view of a dog. "A dog's life" I thought I'd call it. But then Paul Auster (Timboktu) and Asher Kravitz beat me up to it. The difference between their books and mine, however, would be that theirs are mostly sad. I wanted mine to be funny.
This book tells the story of the Jewish haulocost and world war II through the eyes of a dog who grew up in a Jewish family, and despite many fate turnovers, he always felt like a jew. Even when he had to bit up jews as the pet of the son of a Nazi officer. Even when he was stationed in Treblinka in the service of the Nazis.
It was mostly sad, but interesting.

The Poisonwood Bible

By Barbara Kingsolver

What a masterpiece! Reminded me of "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth, in that it told the story of a nation through the story of a family, with a lot of parallels. It also boggles my mind to see more evidence to the horrible behavior of US government all throughout the last few decades, all because of some fear of communism. A behavior that cost many lives and left most of the developing countries under-developed. It's really infuriating.
Anyway, when I got the book (from the same store I got B. Kingsolver's other book, because of the cat) I thought it would be like her two other books I read (the second, without my knowing, turned out to be a sequel of the first) which I really liked. It was different but I wasn't disappointed at all! Seemed to be more complex, but just as easily read and fascinating as the others.

Who Killed Palomino Molero

by Mario Vargas Llosa

A short story told mostly from the point of view of Lituma, a simple Guardia Civil man, a cholo, about his and his boss's attempts to solve a horrible crime - the torture and murder of a young handsome and talented singer, Palomino Molero. The story is set in 1950s and it's interesting to see the tensions between the "whites" and the "cholos". Lots of racism going on... And the power of rumors.

Yours, Sandro (Shelcha, Sandro) - Hebrew

by Zvi Yanai

An interesting compilation of letter the author writes to his long lost brother, that for an unknown reason was left in a foster home. Through letters that Zvi (Sandro) writes to his brother Romulo, citing letters to their mother, we learn what happened to that particular family during the years 1930-1944 in Italy and Hungary, and then a little bit about their years in Israel. Hebrew.

!HUGO! The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution

By Bart Jones

What a fascinating book about such an amazing person!
Having watched a movie about Hugo Chavez a few years ago (The Revolution will not be Televized) followed by a discussion with history professor who seemed very favorable of the man, but then only hearing bad things about him, in the mainstream media and even from South American friends, I felt confused - what should I believe? Bart Jones help me get to a conclusion. But also he made me think of all the lies governments and media tell us. In the case of Chavez - incredible lies and propaganda that seems absolutely ridiculous when confronted with the facts, nonetheless, if it is not (and it usually isn't) it can be very easily considered as the truth by most people.
And that's really scary. What else are they lying to us about?
This book has opened my eyes to all the horrible things US governments were involved in over decades in Latin America. I heard some anecdotes here and there, but never knew to what extent it was striving (and still is) to get rid of leftist leaders. I think it's good to know these things. Better than to be blind.
How can anyone still listen to Bush's lies and not get enraged? I wonder...

Other People's Trades - Primo Levi

Primo Levi is one of my favorite authors, but this collection of essays was not up to my expectations. From the few sentences of the first essay I read while still at the bookstore, it seemed to me that this book would be similar to The Mirror Maker. It was, in a way. But while in The Mirror Maker each and every essay was eye-opening, amusing and interesting, a lot of the stories in Other People's Trades were not as interesting or revealing. But every prolific author has some books that are better than others. I still think that Primo Levi has an amazing way of portraying life, nature, and human nature and he always amazes me with the wide knowledge he has in so many aspects of science.

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

by Mario Vargas Llosa

A nice book with an interesting interweaving of plot: half of the book is an autobiography, and every other chapter is a description of a radio serial by the scriptwriter, Pedro Camacho. Poor Pedro is a workaholic, and writing is his life. He writes episodes for 10 different serials a day - no wonder he ends up mixing them up and confusing the enthusiastic and fascinated audience. It becomes really annoying at time, I must say, to read a story about someone who starts out as a football (soccer) player, and ends up as a bullfighter. The autobiography part is my favorite - the hardships of a couple in love - the author and his aunt Julia. She's not really his aunt - only the sister of his uncle's wife - but she is 14 years older than he is, and a divorcee, which is important to his Catholic family. Since he's a minor (18 year olds still need to get permission from their parents to get married in Peru of that time), they have to overcome so many obstacles, it's really exhausting just to think about it.
I read another book of his years ago, and it didn't leave any impression on me. This is definitely not the case with this book.