Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
This Hanukkah, we have eight book recommendations for eight days of latkes, love, and literature!
The Only Daughter by A. B. Yehoshua, translated by Stuart Schoffman
“The Only Daughter tells the story of twelve-year-old Rachele Luzzatto, an Italian Jewish girl who must simultaneously navigate the Christmas holidays and her father’s sudden health problems.” ‑Isadora Kianovsky
Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours by Adeena Sussman
“Shabbat is largely made up of recipes from Sussman’s own Shabbat table, interspersed with flavors and dishes that grace the Shabbat tables of those closest to her.” ‑Hannah Kressel
How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book by Liel Leibovitz
“Telling the story of rabbinic Judaism through the few dominant personalities of each era of rabbinic history, Leibovitz takes his readers through the development of the Mishnah and Talmud, highlighting important themes like friendship, community, and love, which appear in each time period.” ‑Marc Katz
The Postcard by Anne Berest, translated by Tina Kover
“Mixing fact and fiction, Berest writes a searing account that, in places, is difficult to read because of its unsparing details about deportation and the equally harrowing experiences of Myriam’s survival.” ‑Martin Green
Amos Oz: The Legacy of a Writer in Israel and Beyond by Ranen Omer-Sherman
“Any serious admirer of Amos Oz’s extraordinary body of work will find much to ponder and enjoy in this thought-provoking anthology.” ‑Bob Goldfarb
Kantika by Elizabeth Graver
“The story of Kantika, based on the life of Graver’s grandmother, opens in Constantinople in 1907 and spans five decades, making stops in Barcelona and Havana but ultimately ending in New York City in 1950.” ‑Nina B. Lichtenstein
I Must Be Dreaming by Roz Chast
“Demonstrating her capacity for serious introspection, and weaving together cartoons, sketches, and photos, this memoir combines her finely tuned sense of absurdity with the challenges of coping with her elderly parents in their final years.” ‑Ranen Omer-Sherman
My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin
“The year is 1998. The president is under investigation for sexual misconduct. Themes of gender, power, and sex dominate the national conversation. And on college campuses, women are agitating for justice and respect. This is the landscape in which we meet Isabel Rosen, a senior at Wilder College, an elite liberal arts school in New England.” ‑Chloe Cheimets
Bonus recommendation!
The seventh issue of Paper Brigade is chock-full of articles, short stories, poetry, art, and photography — the perfect Hanukkah treat!
Simona is the Jewish Book Council’s managing editor of digital content and marketing. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in English and History and studied abroad in India and England. Prior to the JBC she worked at Oxford University Press. Her writing has been featured in Lilith, The Normal School, Digging through the Fat, and other publications. She holds an MFA in fiction from The New School.