Book Two: The Red Tent

Recommended by: Nana
Author: Anita Diamont
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 321
Description: Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.
Amazon Reviews:

5 star:  (1,006) 4 star:  (267) 3 star:  (102) 2 star:  (96) 1 star:  (160)

Average Customer Review 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,631 customer reviews)

Purchase Information: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Tent-Anita-Diamant/dp/0312195516

My Grade: B

My Thoughts:  First and foremost, I learned something about myself after going to the play The Mountaintop (depiction of MLK Jr) and reading this book, I have a really hard time reading non-fiction books about fictional people. It's hard for me to get into the author's imagination about a real person - I am constantly thinking about the facts. I am just not for the "loosely based" thing - unless it's a lifetime movie about someone or something that I don't know anything about. I tell you this, because this story is very well researched, but very loosely based on a bible figure. And although Dinah was a very "minor" figure in the bible, her brother Joseph is one of my biblical heroes. I know their story very well - so to read this I was slightly thrown off my Ms. Diamont's interpretation of events. 

All that said, it was a great book. It's obvious that Ms. Diamont knows her biblical history (as far as the culture, food, etc.) and took the time necessary to research. In the beginning the book starts off slow, but heats up big time by the middle. Once Dinah becomes a "woman" (gets her period) - you are on an inspirational roller coaster. This book is the first book that made me proud to have a period - that's for sure. It really awakened my imagination to a world without antibiotics, Advil (medication), tampoons, pain killers, and doctors. Although I was in no way envious or nostalgic of the women's lives in this book, there was a bit of intrigue and yearning...and wanting to...I dunno...be a Genesis kind of woman. It's hard to explain, but I will say that it is a book that I will definitely recommend. But be ready for

Pairing: This book pairs well with a glass of red wine or black tea. It's best suited for winter or fall. A big blanket either outside at night or on the couch curled up.

Book 1: It's Your Time

It's Your Time

By Joel Osteen

pgs. 300

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Your-Time-Activate-Increase/dp/143910011X

118 Reviews 5 star:  (83) 4 star:  (12) 3 star:  (5) 2 star:  (4) 1 star:  (14)

Average Customer Review 4.2 out of 5 stars (118 customer reviews)

Recommended by: Mike, he read it and gave it to me stating that "it changed his life." He'd been asking me to read it for the last six months. His mother bought him the book. Mike read it right before starting his new job. I literally watched (and heard about) the book transforming his way of thinking. There were many nights that he got extremely excited about the book and read me his favorite passages

My Grade: B

My thoughts: First thoughts - "I already know this stuff." I wasn't really excited about reading this book, because Mike already talked to me about it. Additionally, I'm very familiar with Joel Osteen - I've read one of his books, get his emails, and I've heard his messages. This was nothing new; however in the middle of the book something changed. It got to be incredibly inspiring and really did make me think about my faith. I noticed myself talking, thinking, and believing differently - better. I will say though, by the end of the book, I made a complete 360 and was back at the feeling "I already know this stuff."


Recommendation: I'd recommend this book, esp. if you haven't read a Joel Osteen book and you are looking for an inspirational read. However if you've read a Joel Osteen book, I would say you get the point. No need to rush out and grab this book, there was recycled information and stories in this book.


All in all, it good. Inspirational. Joel Osteen stays true to his brand in this book. Once you've read one - you've read them all.

Pairing: This book is best paired with a big cup of coffee with cream and sugar (iced or hot). Best read when about to start a new phase of life or in the spring. Have your highlighter handy.

Guidelines.

The One Quantitative Goal That's Juuuuuust Right.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in. At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bow:

This porridge is too cold!  (google images)

(

This porridge is too hot!  (Insanity Website)

This porridge is juuust right! (google images)

I stopped writing quantitative goals around three to four years ago. For me quantitative goals felt extremely superficial - "I will go to the gym 5 days out of the week." When I didn't make the goal - I was upset and thus put an arrow through the bulleted item. The "arrow" meant that the goal was officially thrust into the "next year" goal list.

This said, for the last few months - I've been looking for a big project or goals. The goals/project could not have anything to do with work.

At first, I wanted to get into puzzles. Start with a mildly difficult puzzle and work my way up to a crazy hard puzzle.

Next it was INSANITY® - the workout not the mental state. Nothing like working out and accomplishing nine weeks of ridiculous workout sessions.

Then I got my mind wrapped around creating kitchen furniture. I've always enjoyed working with wood and Mike is quite the handy man, so I thought this would be awesome.

But then I got an even better idea - remember when we were in school and had to read a certain amount of books and write book reports? I USED TO LOVE THAT. In fact, my mom used to give me and Kenny additional summer reading (and yes, we had to do book reports as well). All this to say, I found my challenge/project/goal: I WILL READ OVER 35 BOOKS THIS YEAR. I figure I will have around 56 hours/week to read a book (give or take) - given I sleep for 8 hours, work 50 hours, and eat dinner one hour.  Because that 56 hours is extremely tight  - I've given myself room - therefore I need to read a book within (on average) 10 days. Totally doable...right?



GUIDELINES:

• To make it very school like - I will write a report (blog post) on each book and will reward myself after every 10 books I read.
• If  When I hit 35 books - there will be a huge prize awaiting myself :) not sure what though. 
• Minimum pages to be counted as a book is 50 pages.
• SLACKER CLAUSE: After every 300 pages - it counts as another book. For instance - my bible is 1540 pages, this would count as five books.
• I will read at least two books totally out of my comfort zone. 
• I will read at least one book from each genre 
• Poetry
• Nonfiction:
• Informational
• Autobiography
• Biography
• Fiction: 
• Fantasy
• Realistic Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Traditional Literature
• Mystery 
• Science Fiction

If you have books on your goal list or are interested - please let me know - I'd love to have a partner in crime :)

Summary.

This year I will be reading more than 35 books! This is the page where I will be writing my book reports. Please feel free to comment on books that you've read or heard about. This will give readers a chance to read multiple opinions on books. I will be sure to link several book reviews under my report. 2012 is going to be a super natural year!