"The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant
In the Bible, Dinah, daughter of Jacob, is the victim of rape which two of her older brothers avenge in a gruesome bloodbath. This novel tells a different story. A story of love, suffering, and betrayal for Dinah was not raped but was in love and her families pride turned her into a victim.
This story follows Dinah's life from learning the mysteries of womanhood in the red tent to discovering her own way after disowning her family.
The beginning had me a bit uncomfortable reading of sexual tendencies, which aren't as different as we see today, and trying to wrap my head around Jacob marrying four sisters. All siblings are also cousins! Weird.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and feel it's worth the read!
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Week 20: May 15
"Pastrix: the Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint" by Nadia Bolz-Weber
I love reading of others' faith journeys and Nadia's was no exception. Even though I didn't agree with everything she had to say, I always appreciate a person's journey to believing in God and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.
Nadia is a very passionate woman who grew up knowing an angry God and only through her good works could be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. Realizing she wasn't a good person in her congregation's eyes, she gave up Christianity and went down a self-destructive path. After a friend's death, she was awaken with the desire to know Christ which led her to become a Lutheran pastor.
She focuses on the gift of God's grace and how suffering is such a part of Christianity. She's not afraid to say that she doesn't have all the answers which can be so refreshing! I feel like a lot of people feel the need to always have the answers to life's obstacles when really there is so much we don't understand, will never understand, that it's nice to have the truth. The truth that life is messy and doesn't always make sense.
Nadia's writing was honest, sometimes harsh, but always real. I would recommend this one!
I love reading of others' faith journeys and Nadia's was no exception. Even though I didn't agree with everything she had to say, I always appreciate a person's journey to believing in God and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.
Nadia is a very passionate woman who grew up knowing an angry God and only through her good works could be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. Realizing she wasn't a good person in her congregation's eyes, she gave up Christianity and went down a self-destructive path. After a friend's death, she was awaken with the desire to know Christ which led her to become a Lutheran pastor.
She focuses on the gift of God's grace and how suffering is such a part of Christianity. She's not afraid to say that she doesn't have all the answers which can be so refreshing! I feel like a lot of people feel the need to always have the answers to life's obstacles when really there is so much we don't understand, will never understand, that it's nice to have the truth. The truth that life is messy and doesn't always make sense.
Nadia's writing was honest, sometimes harsh, but always real. I would recommend this one!
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Week 19: May 8
"The Chemist" by Stephanie Meyer
Don't. Just don't. Don't waste time on this book. I honestly wanted to quit reading it but, like I've said, it's a flaw of mine to have to finish what I start. I admit I enjoyed "The Twilight Series" the first time around, I tolerated "The Host" but this was just bad. When it takes me four days to read the first 100 pages, only to realize the book is over 500 pages, I know it's a book I'll have to suffer through. There was a lot of skimming pages towards the end.
I didn't even want to bother with a blog on this one and then I realized that if I couldn't save myself from the horribleness of this book, I could save someone else. I just hope my negative review doesn't make you curious and you endure the same pain that I did.
Let me begin...
The main character was overly paranoid which made her overly annoying to me. I was hoping she would just die so that I didn't have to read her five-possible scenerios of how she could be killed or who could kill her or how she could plan on not getting killed. It was overkill.
Then we have the usual Stephanie Meyer of someone falling so desperately in love within a matter of hours. There were many times (I do mean many) the main character would reflect on how the last few hours seemed to be hours ago. Honey, I know the pain. I thought it would never end.
There were maybe 100 pages of actual excitement of the book but nothing that made up for the other 400 pages of annoyance. But I made it through. I really am sorry to feel so negatively towards this book but I just can't help myself.
Read at your own risk.
Don't. Just don't. Don't waste time on this book. I honestly wanted to quit reading it but, like I've said, it's a flaw of mine to have to finish what I start. I admit I enjoyed "The Twilight Series" the first time around, I tolerated "The Host" but this was just bad. When it takes me four days to read the first 100 pages, only to realize the book is over 500 pages, I know it's a book I'll have to suffer through. There was a lot of skimming pages towards the end.
I didn't even want to bother with a blog on this one and then I realized that if I couldn't save myself from the horribleness of this book, I could save someone else. I just hope my negative review doesn't make you curious and you endure the same pain that I did.
Let me begin...
The main character was overly paranoid which made her overly annoying to me. I was hoping she would just die so that I didn't have to read her five-possible scenerios of how she could be killed or who could kill her or how she could plan on not getting killed. It was overkill.
Then we have the usual Stephanie Meyer of someone falling so desperately in love within a matter of hours. There were many times (I do mean many) the main character would reflect on how the last few hours seemed to be hours ago. Honey, I know the pain. I thought it would never end.
There were maybe 100 pages of actual excitement of the book but nothing that made up for the other 400 pages of annoyance. But I made it through. I really am sorry to feel so negatively towards this book but I just can't help myself.
Read at your own risk.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Week 18: May 1
"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
It didn't dawn on me that this book was a series, not to mention how many books are in this series, until after I had dived in. A fault of mine is that if I start a series I have to finish it. So now I feel like I have to continue this series even though I'm not sure how I felt about the first book. The same thing happened with "Fifty Shades of Gray" and forcing myself to finish that was horrible! I'm hoping for a different outcome.
The suspense of the book and the short chapters kept me pushing through even though it was hard for me to really understand what was going on. The whole concept just seemed bizarre to me at first. I felt that I was coming up with answers quicker than the book and that some obvious solutions weren't even addressed until the end. This caused a lot of frustration with me and I don't handle frustration well! It was evident even when I stepped away from the book and became a little more annoyed than usual with my day-to-day tasks. Another fault of mine, I carry my emotions from a book into my real life. It drives BJ crazy!
Overall, though, I am left with more questions and plan on reading the entire series. It may not be right away as I wasn't planning on getting into a series right now, but I am somewhat excited to learn a little more about where James Dashner was going with this story.
A bit of an annoyance with the book...they included pictures from the movie. I am not a fan when a book does this, especially when the movie characters don't match up to the book characters. Let the book be the book. It usually ends up better than the movie anyway!
It didn't dawn on me that this book was a series, not to mention how many books are in this series, until after I had dived in. A fault of mine is that if I start a series I have to finish it. So now I feel like I have to continue this series even though I'm not sure how I felt about the first book. The same thing happened with "Fifty Shades of Gray" and forcing myself to finish that was horrible! I'm hoping for a different outcome.
The suspense of the book and the short chapters kept me pushing through even though it was hard for me to really understand what was going on. The whole concept just seemed bizarre to me at first. I felt that I was coming up with answers quicker than the book and that some obvious solutions weren't even addressed until the end. This caused a lot of frustration with me and I don't handle frustration well! It was evident even when I stepped away from the book and became a little more annoyed than usual with my day-to-day tasks. Another fault of mine, I carry my emotions from a book into my real life. It drives BJ crazy!
Overall, though, I am left with more questions and plan on reading the entire series. It may not be right away as I wasn't planning on getting into a series right now, but I am somewhat excited to learn a little more about where James Dashner was going with this story.
A bit of an annoyance with the book...they included pictures from the movie. I am not a fan when a book does this, especially when the movie characters don't match up to the book characters. Let the book be the book. It usually ends up better than the movie anyway!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)