Books Set in North America; United States

The Hebrew Teacher, by Maya Arad (2018)

A collection of three novella.

Read:  December 29, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America; Washington, D.C.

6-3 and 5-4: Betrayal from Within, by Barry Robbins (2025)

This book explores narrow U.S. Supreme Court decisions, like 6-3 or 5-4 splits, hence the title.  The author takes the position that such narrow decisions are acts of internal betrayal.  He argues that these decisions transform legal doctrine into personal, emotional narratives as these rulings hollow out constitutional rights and impact everyday lives, and have profound human consequences.  The book is broken down into Individual Rights, Voting Rights, Regulatory Matters, Second Amendment, Civil Rights, Labor Rights and concludes with Executive Powers.  The analysis is written in a unique manner, from the perspective of the rights or issue in first person.

Read:  December 26, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe; England

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (2020)

Read: December 8, 2025

3.5 Stars

Book 1

Books Set in Asia (Iran) and the North America (California)

The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life, by Jasmin Darznik (2011)

Read:  December 1, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, New Hampshire, United States of America

The Last One at the Wedding, by Jason Rekulak (2024)

Read:  November 25, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in North America, Upstate New York

The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (2024)

Read: November 20, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America; Washington State

Between Sisters, by Kristin Hannah (2003)

Read:  September 30, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe; France

The Paris Agent, by Kelly Rimmer (2023)

This novel follows two female British Special Operatives Executive (SOE) spies whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst.  This novel is loosely based on the women who served in the SOE during World War II.

Read: September 27, 2025

3.5 stars

Books Set in Asia; Israel

10/7, by Lee Yaron (2024)

This book recounts 100 human stories about horror of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.  On that traumatic day, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.  Yaron provides a human portrait of many of those killed.

On Shabbat October 7, 2023, which was also the last day of Sukkot and the beginning of Simhat Torah, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel.  Hamas indiscriminately massacred civilians in what became one of the worst terror attacks in recent history, and the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Read:  September 25, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Jerusalem, Israel and Russia

A Woman in Jerusalem, by A. B. Yehoshua (2004)

Read: September 13, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: Canada and Maine, United States

The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters (2023)

Read:  August 19, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, Connecticut, United States of America

As Close to Us as Breathing, by Elizabeth Poliner (2016)

Read:  August 14, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia; Jerusalem, Israel

Second Person Singular, Sayed Kashua (2010)

This novel follows two Arab-Israeli men living in Jerusalem.  The first man, identified only as lawyer, is a hot-shot defense lawyer with a successful practice, a wife and a loving family.  His story is told in the third-person narrative.  The other man, a social-worker turned artist, tells his story in the first-person.  The novel goes back and forth between the two men as we learn about their lives and backgrounds.  They are conflicted about their lives as Arab-Israelis.

The lawyer is happy with his life until he purchases a book and finds a note in his wife's handwriting within the book's pages.  Convinced it is a love letter, he is determined to find the author of the note. a note in his wife's handwriting in a used book.  The social worker quits his job and becomes a caretaker for a severely injured and vegetative young Jewish man.  Their lives become intertwined as the lawyer become increasingly paranoid about the owner of the note written by his wife.

The novel explores the identity of Arabs who are assimilated into Israeli culture.

Read: August 8, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, California, United States

One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaaruni (2009)

This novel takes place in the basement of a government building somewhere in California.  A group of random people trapped in the visa office hoping for a visa to visit India when a massive earthquake occurs.  To pass the time while they await a hoped rescue, each person shares something amazing that has happened in their lives.

Read:  August 4, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe, Netherlands

The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century, by Edward Dolnick (2008)

Read:  July 20, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia; India

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal (2019)

Read:  July 4, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe; England

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, by Eva Jurczyk (2022)

Read:  June 27, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty, by Bonny Reichert (2025)

Read:  June 16, 2026

5 Stars

Books Set in North America, Oregon

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin (2021)

Read:  June 8, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, Massena, New York, United States

The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town, by Edward Berenson (2019)

Read:  June 8, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States of America, New York, California, Washington State

Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (2024)

Read:  May 15, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in North America, Washington, D.C

The Watergate Girl, by Jill Wine-Banks (2020)

Read:  April 25, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Iran

An American Martyr in Persia, by Reza Aslan (2024)

This book is a biography of Howard Bakersville, a young American Christian missionary from South Dakota who was sent to Persia in 1907.  Ostensibly, he was there to teach English and preach the gospel.  He became enraptured in the culture and soon found he was in the midst of a democratic revolution.  I had never heard of this democratic revolution in Persia that occurred over 100 years ago.

Read:  April 21, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia; Israel

The Last Testament, by Sam Bourne (2007)

Read:  April 11, 2025

3 Stars

Maggie Costelle # 1

Books Set in Asia, Japan

The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoki Ogawa (2003)

Read: March 22, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America, Carville, Louisiana United States

The Second Life of Miriella West, by Amanda Skenandore (2021)

Read: March 22, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; California, United States

Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (2022)

Read:  February 6, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia and North America; Vietnam and California

The Women, by Kristin Hannah (2024)

Read: January 31, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America, California

Under the Influence, by Joyce Maynard (2016)

Read: January 2, 2025

5 Stars