Ivanka Trump’s Vacation Beach Reads Include Titles Beloved By Anti-Trumpers, Including Oprah
The words “spring break” tend to conjure images of wild college trips, wet t-shirt contests, and phosphorescent drinks in sweating plastic cups. For parents of younger children, however, the week off is more often an opportunity to sit down, keep half an eye on the kids to make sure they don’t accidentally destroy themselves, and maybe read an Oprah’s Book Club selection or two.
Judging by Ivanka Trump’s Instagram photo dump on Tuesday, the latter was the vibe of her recent family vacation with husband Jared Kushner and kids Arabella, 14, Joseph, 11, and Theodore, 9, to Costa Rica. Of the 18 photos and videos included in her carousel, just one slide does not feature the beach and/or a horse: a picture of her reading list.
And, boy, is it interesting to read into her picks.
In the post’s caption, in which she gushes about how “grateful” she is for the trip (the word “doesn’t begin to cover it,” she insists), Trump describes “logging off and tuning in. Grounding in nature’s rhythm. Feeling the sacred in the silence, in the laughter of my children, in the breath of the trees.”
Ivanka also, in her own words, “read until the sun dipped low.” Three favorites are arrayed on a bedspread: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, The Women by Kristin Hannah, and The Tell by Amy Griffin. The books have a few things in common: They’re all written by female authors, and feature main characters that could fall under the “strong female lead” umbrella. They are all distinguished members of the New York Times bestseller club. The two fictional entries, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and The Women, both had their film rights snapped up in big-deal movie contracts before the books even hit shelves.
Although none of the three authors have openly criticized Ivanka’s dear old dad, Donald Trump, they carry thematic messages that he might not love so much. And the books she read have been praised by other authors and public figures who have spoken publicly against her father.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which was published in 2022, follows two friends and eventual creative collaborators through decades, from childhood to middle age, co-creating a hit video game along the way and facing various slings and arrows, together and apart. A major theme of the novel is the push-pull between money and art, a salient topic in a time when artists face personal and financial peril under an unsmiling government.
The book was a critical and commercial success, and made the New York Times’ list of the 100 most notable books of the 21st century. Among its fans are author John Green, who has been vocal about his take of Trump as a national disaster. Green called the novel “one of the best books I’ve ever read.” Bill Gates, who donated some $50 million to organizations supporting Kamala Harris before Election Day and has since publicly sounded the alarm on the current administration’s cuts to public health, loved it too. He said that the book “resonated with me for personal reasons,” but also that the story is “a terrific metaphor for human connection.” DNC speaker Oprah Winfrey included the book in her list of the best books of 2022.
More recently, Zevin was at the center of a controversy when a Chicago bookstore removed the novel from consideration for the store’s book club, calling Zevin “a Zionist” in an email and explaining that they didn’t want to give her “monetary support.” She has never publicly spoken about her views on Israel, and was also included on a separate list of reportedly Zionist authors for readers to consider boycotting. The bookstore publicly apologized for removing her book from the poll without discussion, and to their Jewish customers, but not to Zevin herself.