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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Dust Tracks on the Road

By Zora Neale Hurston

This autobiography may not reflect all the facts about the author's life, but it reveals a most lively and fierce woman, one that I would love to have the chance to chat with sometime. The book also includes essays and thoughts regarding issues that were present at the time it was published (1942) and are still pressing today, and is laced with humor throughout. [308 pp.]

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The Thief and the Dogs

By Naguib Mahfouz

A man was just released from prison, after being "played on" by people he considered his friends. He is rejected by his young daughter who didn't get to interact with him at all while he was in prison, and did no recognize him as her father. His best friend, who presumably "set him up," is now married to the woman who used to be his wife. Against all reason, but also quite naturally, he seeks revenge. [fiction, 158pp.]

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Karnak Cafe

 By Naguib Mahfouz

This little novella looks at the life in Egypt in the mid 1960s, the time when secret police started to crack down on civil rights with the excuse of national emergency. The story is told by a narrator who frequents a quaint cafe in Cairo, where two groups of locals, older and younger, attend regularly. During that time, members of the young group disappear and come back changed, one of them never comes back. The author later discusses his interactions with different members of the group, and thus we learn about the horrors of the secret police/deep state that occupied Egypt at the time. Considering I grew up in a neighboring country, I am amazed how little I know about it and its history. This book is a good start to learning more. [110 pp.]

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