This book made me hungry. I loved the recipes placed strategically throughout, and linked to the author's life story and pivotal events. Abu-Jaber writes beautifully and effortlessly transports you to Jordan, upstate New York, and back again through food, family, and cultural conflicts/melding. She reflects on what it means to be Jordanian or American or both, and through exploring her own journeys as well as her father's, she comes to find peace with who she is and where she's been.

recipes and stories that make me nostalgic for another lifetime. this one is a keeper

A passionate, endearing, and engrossing autobiography. Who doesn't recall food from their childhood with pain and affection? Stories are interspersed with recipes (delicious ones, too, having made a few myself!) and it feels like you're sitting down with Ms Abu-Jaber at her dining table, listening to her chat as she cooks.

My kind of food read interspersed with recipes. Could have been a less rambling narrative and it had a bit too many emotional asides for me. Overall fairly light and enjoyable with a lot of funny incidents. I wouldn't mind reading another book by the author.

While I read this book I was in a constant mouth watering, tear eyed, silly smiling plastered face state. This book is just delicious, interesting and fun. I felt so close to the main characters every time I picked up the book I felt like I was paying a visit to old friends, sitting on their porch while they talked about their lives, etc...

I will definetely read this one again soon

I can't seem to get enough of Diana Abu-Jaber's writing...this is the third book I've read by her this year. He writing is poetic, musical, funny, and heart-pulling...and you'll definitely have a craving for Middle Eastern food! Looking forward to reading more by her.

I am so glad that I chose to read this book even though it was part of my Young Adult Literature class last semester. Honestly, I'm heart-broken that I wasn't able to hear my professor's thoughts and analyzations about this book. But regardless, this is definitely one of my favorite memoirs I've ever read.

The Language of Baklava was so beautifully written. Food is such an important part of culture, regardless of whichever culture you come from. The fact that Diana Abu-Jaber added recipes in between scenes made the book feel much more personal. She added recipes for all walks of life, recipes for drinks, for snacks, meals, each with its own wistful subtitle.

I will recommend this book to every single person I meet who enjoys books as much as I do. And I know that I will personally recreate most the recipes that I can, with my own added variations. Jordanian culture and food interested me so much, and now I feel as if I know a sliver of information. I feel as if I am part of that culture because it reflects some of my own cultures.

A well-crafted, emotional, engaging memoir. A better cook than I am might have the interest and courage to try some of the many recipes that Abu-Jaber sprinkles in among her stories of childhood, adolescent, and adult struggles with identity, homeland, and heritage, but I certainly enjoyed the narrative! The prose was simultaneously pithy and bright as well as deeply felt and arresting. I loved the way that the question of selfhood was so closely linked to food throughout the memoir, making the whole volume incredibly thematically tight.

on loan from erin