In high school, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant was on a list of optional summer reading–we had to read something from the list but not everything, and I opted to read something else. I heard good things about the book from friends though, and it’s been floating at the back of my mind as something I ought to read some time ever since. I’ve been reading through Genesis in the Bible recently and came to the portion about Jacob and his family–and decided it was time to finally get The Red Tent off my mental to-read list. And after fifteen or so years…I felt mixed about the book!
I love the concept of this book so much that I’m surprised it took me this long to read it. (Sort of. More on that later.) It’s the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and sister to his twelve sons (most famously, Joseph of the many-colored coat). It retells the Biblical story of this very complicated family from the women’s perspective, focusing on Dinah and the four wives (ish) of Jacob. Since the Bible tends to be heavily male, I love that concept–and reading through the Genesis account made me want to explore the women’s side.
But then I didn’t really love what was done with it. The book starts before Dinah’s birth, telling the story of how Jacob met and married Rachel and Leah and (kind of) married their handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah, and how all those brothers came along. And that sounds complicated and interesting, but somehow the book wound up being very, very focused on sex, childbirth and circumcision. And I can see how all of those would be important, but it was…very heavily weighted on those three topics.
The story improved for me once Dinah was born and it could focus on her rather than a vague omniscient story of her four mothers. There was a lot that was interesting about the culture of the time, particularly the women’s culture. I can’t honestly say how accurate any of it was, but at least as a possible perspective it was engaging. I liked Dinah’s childhood probably best of any section of the book.
I recently stumbled into a new audiobook by accident. I forget what book I was actually searching for in the library’s online catalog, but somehow they offered up The Sherlockian by Graham Moore instead, and it turned out to be a lucky find.
I’ve written before that one of my favorite nonfiction subjects to read is psychology–I’m fascinated by how the mind works (on the level of thoughts, not so much neurons). I recently read Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., and it was one of the most intriguing I’ve read to date.
I was looking for new audiobooks recently, and wandered into the library’s (digital) humor section. I happened across I’ll Have What She’s Having by Rebecca Harrington, a nonfiction humor book about the author’s foray into celebrity dieting. If you’re thinking that diet books aren’t your thing, this is far less advice and much more an exploration of weird and humorous eating experiences.
On a friend’s recommendation, I recently read Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung. And then by coincidence, my book club picked the same book after I’d already started it, so maybe this one is a trend at the moment. It was interesting, readable and…probably useful?
I was 
I am very late to this game–a full year, in fact–but I finally watched Star Trek: Discovery. Lack of access and doubtful reports kept me from exploring the newest installment of the Star Trek franchise for a long time. I finally realized the library had it on DVD, which seemed like the perfect level of investment. Watching it was, frankly, a bit rocky…but I’m ultimately glad I did.