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“There’s a saying in Syria: the tea has to steep. It takes time. You need to have the patience to let the tea leaves become saturated– that’s the only way to achieve perfection.”
― Le pianiste de Yarmouk
― Le pianiste de Yarmouk
“We are afraid of imaginary losses and difficulties that we may never encounter.”
― Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness & the Essential Self
― Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness & the Essential Self
“Trees don’t ask why they don’t move from place to place, nor do they ask any other meaningless questions. But their branches tremble when the birds leave them,”
― The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq
― The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq
“In my rendition, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah was not a noble rescue mission by the fledgling Jewish state but the self-serving instrument for the transfer of the Jews from their homeland.”
― Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew - WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE
― Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew - WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE
“What I experienced on a small scale was what Iraqi Jews experienced all over Israel: disrespect for our Iraqi provenance; ignorance of our history; disdain for our culture; denigration of our language; and social engineering to make us fit into the new European-Zionist-Israeli mould. There was a dominant Ashkenazi nationalist narrative which contrasted our life as a humiliated minority in exile with the bright present of Jewish freedom and independence in the Promised Land. A systematic process was at work to delegitimise our heritage and erase our cultural roots.”
― Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew - WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE
― Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew - WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE
Ilona’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ilona’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Polls voted on by Ilona
Lists liked by Ilona
