Obama vacation reading includes Israeli novel

President Obama’s vacation reading list includes the best-selling Israeli novel “To the End of the Land” by David Grossman.

According to a White House statement, the novel is one of three that Obama took to his 10-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts. Since arriving on the island he has bought two more books, according to reports.

Published in 2008 in Israel to enthusiastic reviews, “To the End of the Land” became a bestseller in the United States and Germany. Finished after the death of Grossman’s son in the 2006 Lebanon War, it tells the story of an Israeli mother to a soldier who leaves home on an extended trip so as not receive the possible news of her son’s death.