Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant




I am currently reading the above book The Red Tent. I am basically going through a list of the book club I belong to (but can't attend because of my standing volunteer event "Lifeskills Workshop for Teen Mother Choices" on Thursdays) of books that were read and discussed before I joined the group. It seems that the majority of the books I've read from the list so far have been historical fiction (which I LOVE). This one is included in that category.

I am almost halfway into the book and I am LOVING it! It is written through the voice of Dinah, a woman only briefly mentioned in Genesis (of the Bible). She is the daughter of Jacob, who is the son of Issac and Rebecca and brother of Esau. It is fiction but really paints a beautiful and clear picture of the times,trials and lives of the characters from the time. It really focuses on the women and their relationships and how they fit into the culture. They really have interesting and overall strong relationships and support each other, especially through pregnancies and births. Through Dinah's "voice", I feel her pain, her joys and her fears. The writing is almost poetic and just lovely to read.

It looks as though since writing this book Diamant has written two other novels, most of her other books are non-fiction and are about modern Jewish life and Jewish traditions. I am glad, at least in this novel as I know it so far, that she ventured into fiction!

The book I read before this (last week) was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. At first I was a bit taken aback by some of the more mature material in the book, but overall it turned out to be a amazing tale of adventure, trials, animal rights and a sweet love story. I would recommend it as well.

I have also noticed that any book by Jodi Picoult is popular as none are left on the shelf at the library. I'm going to have to put one on hold if I want to read it. I am currently interested in three...

The Pact
My Sister's Keeper and
Change of Heart

I love to be reading more regularly again (as of last week). I took a time out when I was all anxious about Miles' potty training, but now that that is under control, I feel free to read again.

It's better than TV.

3 ripples:

Amy Bell said...

Hey there! Getting your material ready..I hope you like it, but please don't feel bad if you don't, ok? I thought your Easter pics were so cute! The meeting was Bible study last night and I did not get to go. Z was not himself and so my husband went for us.
The book sounds interesting...who published it?
Happy Wednesday!
Amy

Nilsa S. said...

I loved The Red Tent, though it's been years since I read it. Though, Jodi Picoult? Well, I may be in the minority, because I've heard a number of people love her stuff. But, the one book I read was junk. Trash. Reading-light. Hopefully, you'll find it more interesting than I did.

Kristi said...

Amy- I am so excited to see the material! You are so sweet.

The book has been published by several companies, one is Allen and Unwin. Having learned mostly about the New Testament in my early life I am always in awe of stories from the old testament. Our current church doesn't shy away from them like the one I grew up in seemed to.

Nilsa- I will be interested to see if I like Picoult or not. I tend not to like many things that the masses like, so I guess we'll just see... The topics do sound interesting to me though.

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