Rec­om­mend­ed Reading

Books for Your Sign: 2019 in Review

Michelle Zau­rov, Simona Zaret­sky
December 20, 2019

Aquar­ius

Oh, Aquar­ius, you can be shy on the sur­face, but lit­tle do peo­ple know how much you have going on inside your head! You’re deeply intro­spec­tive and intel­lec­tu­al, always think­ing of orig­i­nal and unique ideas as well as the next way to help some­one you love or to con­tribute to a cause. That’s why we think Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weath­er: Sav­ing the Plan­et Begins at Break­fast is the per­fect read for you. A com­pelling ​“how-to” about the inno­v­a­tive ways we can help stop cli­mate change through our diet,this book will bring out your ener­getic side by moti­vat­ing you to make a change with his philo­soph­i­cal insight about our rela­tion­ship to our planet.

Pisces

Pisces, you’re the kind of per­son who can be around any­one. You’re also always hap­py to help your friends and are eas­i­ly able to express your emo­tions. But we also know how much you desire to escape real­i­ty into your own lit­tle dream land — which is why Alice Hoff­man’s The World That We Knew is a great fit for you. Hoff­man mix­es mag­ic and his­to­ry, fol­low­ing a young girl who tries to escape Nazi Berlin with a golem at her side. Filled with mys­ti­cal beings and demons, the book will be easy to res­onate with, as it explores help­ing a mul­ti­tude of char­ac­ters dur­ing a trag­ic time in his­to­ry, with a fan­tas­ti­cal twist.

Aries

We know you like to win, Aries. You love look­ing for the next project, com­pe­ti­tion, or any­thing that makes you feel accom­plished and vic­to­ri­ous. You have a knack for mak­ing peo­ple like you with your dynam­ic and per­son­able spir­it, and you enjoy know­ing that you’re liked by those around you. With your con­fi­dence, enthu­si­asm, and deter­mi­na­tion, How Could She by Lau­ren Mech­ling will be a relat­able read. Told from the per­spec­tives of three high-pow­ered female friends (but are they real­ly friends?), the sto­ry reveals how much a friend­ship can rely on com­pe­ti­tion and brag­ging rights. But, just like you, Aries, each indi­vid­ual char­ac­ter explores who they are and what they’re pas­sion­ate about as they strive for success.

Tau­rus

You’re in it for the long haul, Tau­rus, and are ready to invest in your­self and your poten­tial. You thrive when you’re sur­round­ed by beau­ty, from objects you trea­sure to peo­ple you love. This atmos­phere helps you stay account­able and con­sis­tent — although, you have been known to be too stub­born which can cause rifts. This is why you’ll love Adeena Suss­man­’s Saba­ba: Fresh, Sun­ny Fla­vors from My Israeli Kitchen, a stun­ning cook­book that not only will sat­is­fy your aes­thet­ic plea­sure (and looks amaz­ing on your vin­tage cof­fee table!) but also explores Israeli cul­ture, cook­ing, and her­itage through sub­lime recipes with inter­est­ing twists. This book will appeal to your aes­thet­ic sens­es and your stom­ach and help you break out of your rou­tine, reli­able cook­ing patterns.

Gem­i­ni

Gem­i­ni, which is Latin for twins, gets a pret­ty bad rep for being duplic­i­tous. But we under­stand your true char­ac­ter. Socia­ble and fun, you can also be seri­ous and thought­ful, and some­times peo­ple may not know which side of you they’re about to face. You have a curi­ous mind with a yearn­ing to branch out and see all that you can. We think you’d love Maria Kuznetso­va’s Oksana, Behave! which fol­lows the life of Oksana, who immi­grates to the Unit­ed States as a lit­tle girl, and nav­i­gates her dual Russ­ian and Amer­i­can cul­tures. Spunky and deter­mined to do what­ev­er she wants, Oksana is an appeal­ing hero­ine and we think you’d get a kick out of her antics and life story.

Can­cer

You’re incred­i­bly tuned into your emo­tion­al expe­ri­ence, some­times to the point of think­ing it’s writ­ten on your face, but in fact peo­ple can be read­ing some­thing very dif­fer­ent. Your loy­al­ty, cre­ativ­i­ty, and empa­thy can be tak­en as fact or fic­tion, a choice you some­times make — which is why you should pick up Ayelet Gun­dar-Goshen’s The Liar. A riv­et­ing book that’s drip­ping with emo­tion­al anguish, mis­placed teenage cru­el­ty, and raw fam­i­ly dynam­ics, this will have your Can­cer sec­ond-hand anx­i­ety thrum­ming, but might help you con­sid­er when to con­ceal your­self and when to be honest.

Leo

Leo is Latin for lion, mak­ing you ​“the king of the jun­gle.” You have a con­fi­dent and dom­i­nant per­son­al­i­ty, at least on the out­side. You make sure you get the atten­tion in the room and that you’re the alpha. This comes eas­i­ly to you, since you’re so well liked for your socia­bil­i­ty, gen­eros­i­ty, and great sense of humor. With all these in mind, you should read Fleish­man is in Trou­ble by Taffy Brodess­er-Akn­er, where basi­cal­ly every char­ac­ter is a Leo, so to speak. We fol­low the divorce of Toby and Rachel Fleish­man, who con­stant­ly bat­tle for atten­tion and dom­i­nance in their rela­tion­ship. Fun­ny and deep, this book will be a nat­ur­al read for you.

Vir­go

We’re glad you’re here Vir­go, since we know you love to be pro­duc­tive and have trou­ble tak­ing moments to indulge. Your deeply ana­lyt­i­cal and detail-ori­ent­ed per­son­al­i­ty makes you metic­u­lous in every­thing you do, except when it comes to your own feel­ings. You love to help and give advice to those around you, but tend to neglect your­self and your needs. Lori Got­tlieb’s mem­oir Maybe You Should Talk to Some­one will be an impor­tant, fun, and eye-open­ing read for you. Got­tlieb invites us into her life as she starts ther­a­py, while also work­ing as a ther­a­pist her­self. You’ll love her per­son­able and ana­lyt­i­cal per­son­al­i­ty, as she ana­lyzes her patients and her­self, and serves as an inspir­ing voice to do some per­son­al development.

Libra

Group projects might be your favorite thing since part­ner­ship and com­pan­ion­ship are super impor­tant to you. You’re chas­ing jus­tice and at the same time run­ning from con­flict, act­ing as peace­keep­er when­ev­er nec­es­sary. We think The Lim­its of the World by Jen­nifer Ack­er will appeal to your Libra sen­si­bil­i­ties — a mixed race, inter­faith cou­ple search­ing for their own equi­lib­ri­um as new­ly­weds and fac­ing the inequal­i­ties and prej­u­dices of the world and their fam­i­lies with a heavy, qui­et heart. Search­ing valiant­ly for bal­ance, you real­ize that one intan­gi­ble, true gem you won’t find in the world or your part­ner: yourself.

Scor­pio

You may have a bad rep­u­ta­tion but we see the impas­sioned, proud per­son behind the secrets and mis­trust; some­times your past is your secret and there’s no way for­ward but with every­thing you’ve got and quick action. That’s why you should check out An Unortho­dox Match by Nao­mi Ragen, this sto­ry of a woman com­ing to terms with her past and indomitably cre­at­ing a future for her­self in the com­mu­ni­ty she craves, with the man she loves, will ful­fill your desire for expe­ri­ence and emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties and resolution.

Sagit­tar­ius

Sag, we hope you’re here long enough to check this title out. You’re ener­getic and full of life, eager to learn more about how oth­ers live and how you should con­duct your­self. But one of your great­est joys is your free­dom: to move, to live, to give. You’re ready to put it all on the line to get what you want, which can some­times cause some uncom­fort­able con­fronta­tions. That’s why you’ll love Ayelet Tsabar­i’s mem­oir The Art of Leav­ing, a gor­geous sto­ry about home­land, trav­el, and con­fronting the prej­u­dices and con­tra­dic­tions we encounter in soci­ety; it’s a book that will help you stay con­nect­ed to the world and, in turn, yourself.

Capri­corn

Capri­corn we know you’re here for all work and no play but sit down, pour your­self some hot choco­late and think calm thoughts for one minute. You val­ue hard work, self-con­trol, and inde­pen­dence and often look down on peo­ple you don’t see as exhibit­ing these traits. You’ve got­ten as far as you have both per­son­al­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly by putting in the time and mak­ing real­is­tic, achiev­able goals. And that’s why you should check out Sarah Hur­witz’s Here All Along—a mem­oir about the for­mer speech­writ­ers jour­ney to redis­cov­er her Judaism and find the lan­guage to talk about reli­gion, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, and what she believes. This book speaks to the indi­vid­ual who’s look­ing to fill in the more spir­i­tu­al aspects of their life, or just learn more about what Judaism means.

Michelle Zau­rov is Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s pro­gram asso­ciate. She grad­u­at­ed from Bing­ham­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in New York, where she stud­ied Eng­lish and lit­er­a­ture. She has worked as a jour­nal­ist writ­ing for the Home Reporter, a local Brook­lyn pub­li­ca­tion. She enjoys read­ing real­is­tic fic­tion and fan­ta­sy nov­els, espe­cial­ly with a strong female lead.

More from Michelle Zau­rov

Simona is the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s man­ag­ing edi­tor of dig­i­tal con­tent and mar­ket­ing. She grad­u­at­ed from Sarah Lawrence Col­lege with a con­cen­tra­tion in Eng­lish and His­to­ry and stud­ied abroad in India and Eng­land. Pri­or to the JBC she worked at Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty Press. Her writ­ing has been fea­tured in Lilith, The Nor­mal School, Dig­ging through the Fat, and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. She holds an MFA in fic­tion from The New School. 

More from Simona Zaret­sky
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