Everything’s a beach read when you bring it to the sandy shores! This summer we’re grabbing our totes and eagerly heading to the sunshine with these captivating new books. From newly translated works of Hebrew, to a page-turning Cold War mystery, to a scrumptious look at Jewish Rome’s culinary history, we have a reading rec for you!
The Dissident by Paul Goldberg
All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky
Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen by Leah Koenig
The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella
We Need to Talk about Antisemitism by Diana Fersko
The Vegan by Andrew Lipstein
Where I Am by Dana Shem-Ur, translated by Yardenne Greenspan
Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok
Inside Information by Eshkol Nevo, translated by Sondra Silverston
The Ascent: A House Can Have Many Secrets by Stefan Hertmans, translated by David McKay
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.