Mrs. McBride converted to Christianity and her son had no idea that she was Caucasian and not just “light skinned”. Discovering that he is half-white was a revelation to the author and part of the book is him coming to terms with his mixed race.

This is a refreshing and unique book, which provides a deeper understanding into a complicated, and sometimes contradictory, story.

I really enjoyed that the author didn’t just look at historical contexts, but also at political and social contexts at the time the texts were written.

The story telling is done tongue in cheek, the readers are privy to the lies, manipulations, and political maneuvering getting an overall picture of what is happening

The author does not shy away from pain or happiness, as is real life.

The story actually has three protagonists, Max Cohn, a kid in present day Los Angeles, Moshe Goldenhirsch who is a young Jewish man at the heyday of World War II, and again, Moshe as an elderly retiree in present day Los Angeles

Mr. Spielberg’s Jewish story is very insightful and the author is obviously very interested in his journey as a proud Jew and a genius film maker

This is a two part story, the first one, as the name of the book suggests, is the story of the Nazis trying to control people’s beliefs via literature, punishment and spectacles of burning books symbolizing “wrong” ideology. The second part is the painstaking cataloging of millions of books, returning what can be returned (through notes, plates and other identifying marks).

The novel does a good job informing the reader how terrorist organizations develop and the threats they pose to Americans and American interests

I love the sarcastic, bitter, dark Jewish humor which, to be fair, is shared with many cultures but with a twist of guilt and spice.