2020-2021 Picks

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Concealed

The author tells her story of being caught between two worlds as the American-born dutiful daughter of Persian-Jewish immigrants who hungers for more self-determination than tradition allows.

Little & Lion

Sixteen-year-old Suzette returns home to Los Angeles after a year away at boarding school to find a lot has changed—she feels the repercussions of a year away at a school where she was the only Black, Jewish student, discovering her sexuality.

Red Rosa

In 2020, this graphic novel documenting the dramatic life and death of German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg celebrates its fifth anniversary of publication.

The Color of Love

An unforgettable memoir about a mixed-race Jewish woman who, after fifteen years of estrangement from her racist great-aunt, helps bring her home when Alzheimer's strikes.

Songs in Dark Times: Yiddish Poetry of Struggle from Scottsboro to Palestine

This nonfiction book explores the sometimes fraught genre of leftist Yiddish poetry that depicts the suffering of people all over the world—Palestinian Arabs, Black Americans, Spanish Republicans—to speak to collective struggle in the 1930s.

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

In her memoir, Heumann explores her work as a disability rights activist, recounting the largely erased history of the Disability Rights Movement in the United States.

The Wolf of Baghdad

In this nearly wordless graphic novel, the author explores her ancestral home of Baghdad, which, in the 1940s, was a hub of Jewish life.

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me

Through archived voicemail messages, emails, and an impressive feat of ventriloquism, Kalb shares her grandmother's life story in the voice of her late grandmother herself.

The Genius of Women: From Overlooked to Changing the World

Journalist Janice Kaplan sets out to determine why the extraordinary work of so many women has been brushed aside, and celebrates the women geniuses, past and present, who have triumphed anyway.

High Risk: Stories of Pregnancy, Birth, and the Unexpected

A high-risk pregancy doctor's account of her work and the complexity of reproductive life—and everything that's lost when we don’t speak honestly about women’s health.

The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects

This book rethinks early Jewish American women's lives by examining five objects owned by five different Jewish women who lived in New York between 1750 and 1850.

What We Will Become: A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation

What We Will Become is a mother’s memoir of her transgender child’s journey, and her own exploration of the world outside the boundaries of the Ultra-Orthodox faith and culture that shaped her.

A Ceiling Made of Eggshells

In the newest book by the beloved author of Ella Enchanted, a young Jewish girl survives the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and crafts her own destiny.

My Life as a Villainess

This collection of essays explores Lippman's experience as an older mom and her relationships with her parents, friends, and writing.

All My Mother's Lovers

In this anticipated debut novel, Masad powerfully explores the complexity of familial relationships, sexuality, and grief, as main character Maggie processes her mother's death and embarks on a journey to hand-deliver letters to five mysterious men.

And the Bride Closed the Door

A young bride shuts herself up in a bedroom on her wedding day, refusing to get married.

The Yellow Bird Sings

A story inspired by the lived experiences of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Rosner's debut novel captures the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter.

Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words That Are Used to Undermine Women

These empowering essays from leading women writers examine the power of the gendered language that is used to diminish women—and imagine a more liberated world.

Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir

Solnit reflects on her formation as a writer and as a feminist in San Francisco during the 1980s, exploring how she found her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent.

The Book of V.

Solomon weaves a retelling of the biblical story of Esther with the overlapping and colliding stories of a senator's wife and a Brooklyn mom, illuminating how women’s lives have and have not changed over thousands of years.

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

This gorgeous new edition of Gertrude Stein's most well-known work bursts with the bright, sophisticated, and fanciful images of artist Maira Kalman.

Sharing the Work: What My Family and Career Taught Me about Breaking Through (and Holding the Door Open for Others)

In her memoir, economist Myra Strober shares her life's work: the study of and fight against gender bias in the workplace, in academia, and at home.

Cosella Wayne: Or, Will and Destiny

The first novel written and published in English by an American Jewish woman and the first coming-of-age novel to depict Jews in the US, this book was published serially in 1860 and then forgotten until the 21st century.