The Red Tent

I read this book on the way down to Florida.  It was recommended to me by a cousin of mine, and it was one of the most interesting books I have read in a while.

Here is a review:

"The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.

"Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons. --Gail Hudson"


I really enjoyed this book.  I had to ignore the fact that the book does deviate from the Bible a bit, and recognize that it is written from a different point of view.  It was really neat, though, to see the biblical times from the point of view of a woman.  The book moved well and kept me interested.  I recommend this book to anyone.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians Series

I am sure Diana had thought I had given up on this series at this point, but school just got super busy in the last few months.  Now that summer is almost here (I have one more workday), I have had more time to read.

As a reader of Harry Potter books, I had a feeling I would like this series as well.  I wasn't disappointed.  Here is what Wiki says about the series:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a series of fictional adventure and fantasy books authored by Rick Riordan. Set in the United States, the books are predominantly based on Greek mythology. The series consists of five books, as well as spin-off titles such as The Demigod Files and Demigods and Monsters. The Lightning Thief, the first book, is the basis of a film called Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which was released in the United States and Canada on February 12, 2010.

The protagonist is Percy Jackson, who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. He learns that the legendary beings of Greek mythology still exist and have always existed, including monsters, cyclopes, empousae, Titans, and the Greek Gods (Olympians) themselves who dwell in Olympus, which is now situated at the mythical 600th floor of the Empire State Building. Percy is frequently attacked by monsters because he is a child of one of the "Big Three": god of the gods and the god of the sky, Zeus, the king of the sea, Poseidon, and the leader of the Underworld, Hades, who made a pact after World War II to not have any more children because they were too powerful and unpredictable. Percy meets many other young demigods, both friendly and hostile, who are also in the process of discovering their ancestry and powers. The only other known demigod children of these "Big Three" in the series are Thalia Grace (daughter of Zeus), Nico di Angelo (son of Hades), and Bianca di Angelo (daughter of Hades).

As of May 28, 2010, the series has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for children's books for 150 weeks.^[1]

  

This series was a quick read for me.  There were times where it was a little predictable, but then again, there were times where I was surprised.  I was glad to see the amount of action, even though the constant battles with new monsters sometimes got old.  I am surprised this series hasn't caught on as well as Harry Potter did.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but the whole time reading the books, I could easily see this being a great movie series, and hope they keep going with the whole series.

All in all I really enjoyed this series of books.  As a teacher, I want to have my students with learning disabilities read it, because they often referred to Percy's difficulty with school and how that ended up being a good thing.  I try to teach my kids to learn strategies to deal with their disability instead of being hindered by it.