NWNY Fall Reading List
Along with cooler weather and colorful foliage, Fall brings a flood of new books. We asked our staff and volunteers to pick the most interesting titles about the immigrant experience. Our selection is as diverse as our community and includes fiction and nonfiction. Select your favorite genre and enjoy!
Most books in this list are available for free at the New York Public Library, while others are coming soon to your local library or bookstore. Apply for a library card here.
NOVELS
A Woman Is No Man
(Etaf Rum, Harper Collins, $26.99)
Etaf Rum is a daughter of Palestinian immigrants who was born and raised in Brooklyn. Her debut novel tells the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their culture. Set mostly in New York City, at once foreign and staggeringly close, the novel is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family, honor, secrets and betrayals.”
Dominicana, a Novel
(Angie Cruz, Flatiron Books, $24.29)
Fifteen-year-old Dominican Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her family to eventually immigrate. So Ana leaves everything behind to become Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold sixth-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a plan to escape. But Cesar, Juan’s younger brother, convinces her to stay. As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets. Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different life in America. When Juan returns, she must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.
COOKBOOK
Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen
(Adeena Sussman, Avery, $28)
Sababa, borrowed from Arabic, means “everything is awesome” – an accurate description of Adeena Sussman’s new book. The American food writer, who lives in Tel Aviv, combines juicy storytelling with accessible tips for the home cook. Every morning, she makes her way through the stalls of Shuk Hacarmel, her local market. There, she chooses the freshest and most tempting flavors — juicy figs, locally made halvah, bourekas, cheeses and olives — and border-crossing kitchen staples like tahini, sumac, silan (date syrup), harissa and za’atar. Adeena then goes back home to prepare recipes inspired by her adopted country.
NON-FICTION
This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto
(Suketu Mehta, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18.56)
Drawing from his experience as an Indian-born teenager in New York City and from years of reporting around the world, Suketu Mehta scrutinizes the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash. Telling stories of ordinary workers, from Dubai to Queens, NY, he explains why more people are on the move today than ever before. His conclusion: as climate change, political turmoil, economic crises and other legacies of colonialism reshape the planet, it is little surprise that borders have become so porous.
America Is Immigrants
(Sara Nović, Penguin Random House, $ 27)
This volume brings American immigrant stories to life in short biographies written by award-winning writer Sara Nović, author of Girl at War. Beautifully illustrated by Alison Kolesar, the book celebrates the incredible range of what it means to be an American. The book features civil rights leaders, architects behind American landmarks and familiar names from every walk of life, including the first female Secretary of State in U.S. history, Madeleine Albright, who was born in the former Czechoslovakia, and the so-called father of American ballet, George Balanchine, born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian father and a Russian mother.
Ninth Street Women — Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art
(Mary Gabriel, Little, Brown and Company, $19.04)
Spanning from the Great Depression to postwar America, this volume chronicles the life of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of 20th century abstract painting — not as muses but as artists. The background is the ebullient New York City, where immigrants, refugees and first-generation Americans were shaping not only the avant-garde but the future of art. A fascinating narrative, it’s filled with memorable characters and sharply etched scenes. From the description of a Village jazz club, where Lee Krasner met Dutch painter Mondrian (and danced with him), to the low-key City Hall wedding of Elaine and Willem de Kooning, every detail is vivid and meaningful – and makes us feel like we were there.
Prices refer to the hardcover version, unless indicated otherwise, and were provided by publishing houses between September 10 and 11.
