In light of the ongoing Israeli invasion and bombing of Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks against Israel, community members put together a list of books they see as useful, relevant and timely reading materials. Some of these texts shed light on complex histories of political conflict in the Middle East. Others are memoirs depicting what it means to live through war.
Their list is printed below. Although local library patrons can request any book via interlibrary loan, four of these books can either be found on the Warren Public Library shelves or accessed as an e-book or audio-book via the online catalogue. These titles are marked with an asterisk.
Warren Public Library director Marie Schmukal suggested additional texts that patrons might be interested in. All are currently owned by the library. These include “Track Changes” by Sayed Kashua, “The Tiny Journalist: Poems” by Naomi Shihab Nye, and Etaf Rums’ “Salt Evil Eye” and “A Woman is No Man.”
Schmukal recommends “Apeirogon” – a novel based on a friendship among a Palestinian and an Israeli – by Irish author Colum McCann. She said that the Warren Library has several works of non-fiction about Israeli-Palestinian relations, including “The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine” by English author Michael Scott-Baumann, and “Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish & Palestinian Trauma and Resilience” by American author Alice Rothchild.
Schmukal said that Vermonters who are seeking information of various kinds also have access to the Vermont Online Library, which offers a database of articles from magazines, professional journals and newspapers from around the world.
Joslin Memorial Library director Jason Butler recommended some texts that patrons can find on the shelves at Joslin, including the biography “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, And The Heart Of The Middle East” by Sandy Tolan, the fictional “Dinner at the Center of the Earth” by Nathan Englander, the non-fiction “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and “The Skin and its Girl” by Sarah Cypher – a fictional account of a young, queer Palestinian-American woman who wrestles with questions of love, sexuality and exile.
Butler said that regarding current political events, “The Valley libraries should be at the forefront in being able to provide clear information on what’s happening – that’s our task, to help people be informed.”
A reading list put together by community members:
Cookbooks
Arabiyya, Reem Assil
The Gaza Kitchen, Laila El-Haddad
Palestine On a Plate, Joudie Kalla
Zaitoun, Yasmin Khan
Falastin, Sami Tamimi et al.
History and Cultural Studies
Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, Sumaya Awad et al.
On Palestine, Noam Chomsky
Justice for Some, Noura Erakat
A Land with People, Esther Farmer et al.
Except for Palestine, Marc Lamont Hill et al.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, Rashid Khalidi
The Palestinian Laboratory, Antony Lowenstein
Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History, Nur Masalha
Orientalism, Edward Said
The Question of Palestine, Edward Said
Memoir
Ever Since I Did Not Die, Ramy Al-Asheq
Among the Almond Trees, Hussein Barghouthi
I saw Ramallah, Mourid Barghouti
My Father was a Freedom Fighter, Ramzy Baroud
Love in an Ex-Country, Randa Jarrar*
Stranger in my Own Land, Fida Jiryis
In Search of Fatima, Ghada Karmi
Out of Place, Edward Said*
Palestinian Walks, Raja Shehadeh
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, Raja Shehadeh
They Called me a Lioness, Ahed Tamini
Novels
Against the Loveless World, Susan Abulhawa
Mornings in Jenin, Susan Abulhawa
The Blue Between Sky and Water, Susan Abulhawa
Salt Houses, Hala Alyan*
The Arsonist’ City, Hala Alyan
Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad
The Parisian, Isabella Hammad
A Map of Home, Randa Jarrar
Men in the Sun, Ghassan Kanafani
My First and Only Love, Sahar Khalifeh
The Dance of the Deep-Blue Scorpion, Akram Musallam
Habibi, Naomi Shihab Nye
Minor Detail, Adania Shibli
Poetry
19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye*
Strip, Jessica Abughattas
The Twenty-Ninth Year, Hala Alyan
We Call to the Eye and the Night, Alyan and Hashem Beck
Exhausted on the Cross, Najwan Darwish
In the Presence of Absence, Mahmoud Darwish
Memory for Forgetfulness, Mahmoud Darwish
The Butterfly’s Burden, Mahmoud Darwish
Unfortunately, it was Paradise, Mahmoud Darwish
Rifqa, Mohammed El-Kurd
Footnotes in Order of Disappearance, Fady Joudah
Born Palestinian, Born Black, Suheir Hammad
The Earth in the Attic, Fady Joudah
Tethered to Stars, Fady Joudah
Honeybee, Naomi Shihab Nye
Words Under the Words, Naomi Shihab Nye
CUT HERE IF NEEDED FOR SPACE
Graphic novels
Power Born of Dreams, Mohammad Sabaaneh
Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco*
Palestine, Joe Sacco
Squire, Nadia Shammas
Story Collections
The Book of Ramallah, Maya Abu al-Hayat
Him, Me, and Muhammad Ali, Randa Jarrar
All That’s Left to You, Ghassan Kanafani
Palestine’s Children, Ghassan Kanafani
Young Adult
Farah Rocks series, Susan Muaddi Darraj
Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, Sonia Nimi
