Welcome to Litsy!

New day. New book.
Foot is still healing.

A woman moves to Israel as a young wife, but divorces soon after and ends up with a complete sense of insecurity, loneliness and fear that she‘ll never have another chance to become a wife and a mother. She rediscovers herself through a very structured religious practice - the study of Talmud. It‘s a personal and captivating narrative with links to Talmudic texts. #Hanukkahchallenge #imthatjew #told_by_a_woman

This book won both a Newbery Honor and was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor, which is how it got on our book club‘s radar. We all learned some new-to-us history and appreciated the scope of the book. It moves through several generations of a family, taking place in four different countries and with four different protagonists. Lots to take in!

This was my April #BookSpin pick.

I spotted a menorah on the cover and grabbed this for #ISpyBingo, not noticing at the time what an unusual menorah it is. This is a delightful multicultural story about a girl visiting her aunt Luisa, who comes from Mexico. Isobel not only learns some new Sephardic Hanukkah customs, but also about her aunt's creativity and love for animals and nature. I would have loved to read this to my kid when she was little.