Galia Solomonoff

Architect / United States / Solomonoff Architecture Studio; Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University

Galia Solomonoff’s Book List

In 1975, my parents burned a significant and dear part of our library as Isabel Perón signed a number of decrees empowering the military to “annihilate” the Argentine left. It was a Sunday morning in winter. We were at our suburban house on the Paraná River and I was seven. I passed books to my father in silence; we did a barbecue to cover up the burning of the books. I passed an annotated volume of Charles Fourier—I don’t remember the title, but I remember it was red, leather-bound, and about 4 x 7 inches.

The respect for books has been with me ever since. The sense that books can change the world, unite people and make us better. The sense that knowledge is power and that somewhere in the world right now someone is being attacked for what they read or think.

The list of books below is eclectic. Some of these books have marked my thinking, and others have taken me to another time and place.

1 book
John Steinbeck

The sense of the beginning of the 20th century and the American shift from east to west, the bond between men, father, sons, servants, friends, and principally brothers. I love how intricate the dialogues among these male characters are, especially between Samuel Hamilton and Lee, knowledgeable immigrants who unite beyond class or race through books and dignified speech.

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