I feel overwhelmed by all the books in the world that I want to read, and I must accept that I will never possibly have time to read them ALL. So I have a nice little checklist going . . . and I'm adopting the one day at a time phrase in my book reading life.
One Book At A Time.
I did happen to recently finish a book titled The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. [And may I please jump on a soap box for a minute and explain to you the difference between a book being titled and the word entitled. It drives me crazy when people use them interchangeably. A title is a name, a description, a label. For the most part, title is a NOUN. In the 21st Century, entitled is a verb. It means "to give an enforceable right to claim something."* For example, an author is entitled to receive royalties. I am entitled to my opinion. So please, don't say that a book is entitled. A book is not entitled to anything.]
Back to The Red Tent . . .
This book has over 1,500 reviews on Amazon! It's controversial and fascinating. Provocative and insightful. Infuriating and Sad.
Overall, I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to anyone looking for a good tale. The Red Tent claims the genre of historical fiction, but I see it as fiction with a little bit of history thrown in. Like some of the reviews on Amazon say, I agree that the historical research could have been more extensive. I mean, what man in the 2200s BC said, "Are you well, My lady"? (p. 188)
The story Diamant creates around the few Bible verses concerning Dinah is fascinating. I do wonder what happened to her, and I appreciate Diamant's creation in a fictional aspect.
Up next: Wuthering Heights with my work book club!
*Yes, I know the second entry in the dictionary says a book can be entitled, but I disagree. I think it's an archaic use of the word and just plain confusing.
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