All the news out of Gaza about the Israel-Palestine conflict has a lot of people talking about that part of the world. Many of us use books to learn more about other places and expand our worldview, so that got me wondering: what does the library have that would help? There are some great options!

Let the gorgeous cover convince you– you know you want to! Salt Houses by Hala Alyan is a decades-spanning tale of a Palestinian family. We meet The Yacoub family on the eve of daughter Alia’s wedding, when her mother Salma practices the tradition of reading her daughter’s future in coffee grounds. She keeps to herself the prediction that he daughter will lead an unsettled life, but it nonetheless comes true. In 1967, a conflict called the Six Day War scatters the family across continents, and in 1990, they are further uprooted when Saddam Hussein invades. As they resettle– in Kuwait, Beirut, Paris, and other places– they and the reader are left to wonder if and when they’ll be reunited in peace. eAudio here.

Kingdom of Olives and Ash is a collection of essays by respected writers who have seen first-hand the devastation of the war and occupation which was just short of seventy years old when this books was published. A non-governmental organization called Breaking the Silence– made up of former member of the Israel Defense Forces– paid to send writers to these areas and report on what they saw there. The writers themselves represent a wide variety of backgrounds and opinions, which serves to diversify the conversation and open up what can be a difficult topic. They spoke to locals on all sides of the issues, looked at beautiful surroundings and burnt-out battlefields. The result is breathtaking and often devastating, as the writers consider the costs the people of this area have paid, in a way that goes far beyond the smoking wreckage seen on the news. eBook here and eAudio here.

I love Simon Sebag Montefiore’s nonfiction work because I think he always does a good job staying balanced in his sources while also constructing a book that is interesting to read. Jerusalem: the biography is organized chronologically as a history of people and events in the city, which Montefiore relates the historical, social, political, and religious importance of without delivering a full treatise on the claims various religious groups have laid upon it. In 2011, Montefiore adapted a three-part history of Jerusalem for the BBC, based on his book– that’s how much there is to learn and enjoy.

 

I hope you keep learning and keep enjoying with us.