The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams by Karen Hawkins - I like this series about a set of magic-ish sisters in a small town named for their family.
Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk - A really compelling read about a Jewish-Ukranian-Soviet former POW - what an interesting and unknown-to-me story. It was a little long but I honestly couldn't put it down.
Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar - I don't think I realized this was middle grade, but I loved the interwoven stories of these Jewish families through history. We don't get a lot of stories about the Jews of Turkey, for example, and I like her writing. A great read, even if you don't typically read middle grade novels!
Real Americans by Rachel Khong - I thought some of this book was interesting but honestly, I'm not sure I totally understood the ending. I liked the historical perspective and the immigrant story, and didn't feel like it all worked for me.
Homeseeking by Karissa Chen - Interesting to read two Asian-American immigrant stories back to back. (I liked this one more than Real Americans) I was most fascinated by the languages and the author's note at the start about how all of the languages interplayed.
The Names by Florence Knapp - Oof what a hard and beautiful book. This was a tough story to read with the domestic abuse, but a really wonderful commentary on the impact of our choices as the story is split into three different timelines based on what would have happened if the main character had given her child any one of three different names. Probbaly will make my top 10 list for the year.
The Last Dekrepitzer by Howard Langer - This is really a great novel imagining the last of a line of fiddle-playing rebbes who ends up in the American South and blends his family's musical tradition with the American blues and religious music. A really lovely story about the healing and uniting power of music.
Good Grief by Sara Goodman Confino - one of my favorite authors, this one did not disappoint. This story of a young widow and her mother-in-law was hopeful and funny and sweet, and I want to just hang out with her characters and be friends with them.
The rest of the year:
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February 2025 Books
January 2025 Books
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