The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

By Isabel Wilkerson

Amazing writing and organizing of this book. It focuses on the stories of three people who have migrated from the Jim Crow South to the North and West. These people migrated in different decades, to different cities, and were from completely different backgrounds. One gets to see their personal thoughts and motives for moving away from their places of birth, from their families, their lives, the hardships they faced along the way, the adjustments and disillusions they went through when they got to their respective promised lands. In between their stories, Wilkerson gives big-picture reports to put the personal accounts in context. I am totally in awe with how well-done this book is. I think it is important for everyone living in the United States to read this book. [non-fiction, 622 pp.]

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They Called Us Exceptional and Other Lies that Raised Us

By Prachi Gupta

A memoir of a childhood and early adulthood of the writer and her brother, growing up in a family with a controlling father in a culture that breeds exceptionalism amidst a systemically racist society.  It's hard to imagine a young sensitive person having to go through such a life, and the book definitely provides a lot of food for thought. [275 pp.]

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How To Be Both

By Ali Smith

An interesting story of two characters, separated by a few centuries, but somehow come together through a work of art. Discussing gender identity, art making, and dealing with the immature passing of mothers. the writing wasn't easy for me to follow, being quite enigmatic and poetic, bordering on riddle, especially in the part dedicated to Francesco del cossa. [fiction, 315pp.]

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If You Want to Make God Laugh

By Bianca Marais

A beautifully-written and touching book about 3 women, each struggling with her own personal problems, but eventually all coming together and helping each other, whether intentionally or not. This is all happening amidst the revolutionary transition of South Africa out of apartheid (and the racism and violence that accompanied it), and in the deepest depths of the AIDs epidemic (not devoid of violence, either). [fiction, 435 pp.]

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A Romance with a pencil (רומן עם עפרון)

By Sasha Okun

A very special book that looks at the art of drawing through technique and skill building, accompanied by history, stories, and explanations as to why this technique and skill building is important. A lot of the principles talked about here (perspective, composition, mark-making) are taught in art school, but here they are peppered with personal anecdotes and art-historical stories that are relevant to the subject (though sometimes intentionally irrelevant!) The book is full of humor, the author's viewpoint of what art is (and what isn't art), and other philosophical musings. [Hebrew, 294 pp.]

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Hasefer Ha'adom (The Red Book; Hebrew)

By Assaf Inbari

An interesting account of the three leader's of Israel's first socialist party. This was at the time surrounding the establishment of the state, with those who favored America's support and those (like the heroes of this book) who favored USSR's support; Israel's character will be determined by those who win. These three, though they worked together, were far from agreeing on pretty much anything. They each had their own agenda, their own reactions to the revealed atrocities of the soviets, their own personal problems. All is told in plain, flowing language in this book. [non-fiction, 180pp.]

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Achot Lapliadot (Sister to the Pleiades)

By Orit Ilan

A well-written and interesting look at different people who are connected in random ways, and share a longing to understand what it is that shifted them from the path they thought they were supposed to take. Have they been cursed by a witch? Are they victims of random acts of the world? [Hebrew, 348pp.]

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