The Red Tent is October's Book

The book that we are reading for October 31st is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. A fictitious account of Jacob and Leah's daughter Dinah, this story's title focuses on the defiled space, the red tent that women would go for their times of "unpurity". And it is in this isolation from men that women's traditions are taught and passed to new generations.

From Amazon.com

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.

Did you see the cover of the Trib today? Story on Polygamy - follow up to Under the Banner of Heaven

Did you see the cover of the Trib today? The big headline was "Polygamy: Utah's Open Little Secret" (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609240351sep24,1,3161781.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true) which was kind of a cover feature follow up to the Warren Jeff's arrest a couple weeks back. If you haven't seen it, I thought you might find it's portrayal of polygamy by the family it interview interesting in light of what we read about in Under the Banner of Heaven.

Shortly after we read Under the Banner of Heaven I was googling Colorado City, Arizona and came across this interesting feature of a women who got out of that society. At the time I had mentioned it to a couple of people who were interested and then I had bad follow through with a paper copy. Here is the electronic link to the story if you are interested: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2003-03-13/feature_5.html .

Coming Up:
Tuesday: Discussing Fingersmith at 7:30 at LMC
Upcoming Friday or Saturday: Viewing of Fingersmith at Jen and Erica's (set a date Tuesday)
Book for October: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
October 31st: Bookclub at 7:30 discussing The Red Tent

See you Tuesday - Jen

Tuesday is book club

Well, Erica realized that book club was this upcoming Tuesday (the 26th) and decided that she better start reading Fingersmith. Now for those of you familiar with Erica, she reads at supersonic speeds, and this will be her third time reading the book. I know others of you are working to finish in time. It is suppose to rain this weekend - perfect weather for Victorian crime novel. I hope you are enjoying it so far.

Erica and I will be having a screen of the movie on Friday or Saturday night following bookclub. We just need to talk about it - more about this at book club.

Zebedee (picture by David Sutton) looks forward to seeing you all there.
-Jen

Sarah Waters, Author of Fingersmith, is 2-1 favorite to receive heavy weight book award

It was announced yesterday that Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith (see picture), is a heavy favorite to win the Booker Prize, one of the world's top book awards for her latest efforts, The Night Watch.

Here is the news story from Reuters:


U.K. writer Waters leads shock Booker shortlist
By Paul Majendie Thu Sep 14, 12:43 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - British author Sarah Waters was installed on Thursday as 2-1 favorite for the Booker Prize after judges left a string of literary heavyweights off the shortlist for one of the world's top book awards.
"We have argued hard and well," said chairwoman Hermione Lee after the judges surprised critics by leaving out previous winners Peter Carey and Barry Unsworth and the early favorite David Mitchell.
Bookmakers made Waters favorite to land the 50,000-pound ($94,000) prize for "The Night Watch," her tale of post-war Britain.
"It tears the underwear off London," said one of the judges, actress
Fiona Shaw' Second favorite at 3-1 with bookmakers William Hill was English writer Edward St Aubyn for "Mother's Milk," about the entanglements of a once illustrious family.
The eclectic list was completed by Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss," Kate Grenville's "The Secret River," M.J. Hyland's "Carry Me Down" and Hisham Matar's "In The Country of Men."
"The subjects range from histories of colonialism in India, English convicts in Australia, Gaddafi's repressive regime and London in the blitz to the most intimate stories of family life," Lee said.
Highlighting how international the list was for the 2006 prize, she said: "There are four women and two men. They include an Indian writer (Desai) who has lived in America and England, an Australian (Grenville), an Irishwoman (Hyland) and a Libyan-born Egyptian (Matar) now living in England."
She said the sextet on the shortlist offered "a distinctive, original voice and audacious imagination that takes readers to undiscovered countries of the mind, a strong power of story telling and a historical truthfulness."
The shortlist for the prize, founded in 1969, was chosen from an original entry of 112 books. The award guarantees the winner instant literary fame and a place in bestseller lists around the globe.
Last year's winner, "The Sea" by Irish writer John Banville," has since sold 500,000 copies and boosted sales of his previous novels.
The award invariably causes controversy, with critics saying the winners are often turgid tomes that appeal only to literary academics.
The winner of the prize, sponsored by the futures brokers Man Group, will be announced on October 10.

I hope you are enjoying Sarah Waters writing as much as the critics do.
-Jen

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is the book for discussion on September 26

The book selection is Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. When I first picked up this book, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I am not a fan of Dickensian Victorian novels. But boy, this is a page turner. And while you are turning pages, watch out for all the twists and turns Sarah Waters has written into the plot. Wow!

As Linda Mu. cautioned at the book group last time, this is not a book to pick up a few days before we get together at the end of September. It is a dense novel (about 600 pages) with a lot of detail to pay attention to (it's a suspense novel). But I thought it was a fast moving book and it is still hard for me to put it down - I'm on my second reading and I've watched the movie several times.

Speaking of the movie: After we are done discussing the book in book club, Erica and I are hosting a movie night where you are invited to come over and watch the BBC version with us. More about this later.

Here are two synopsis/reviews of the book. Hopefully it will peak your interests and encourage you to go out and get the book if you haven't done so already.

Happy Reading - Jen

From Amazon.co: Fingersmith is [a] hypnotic suspense novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets, orphans, grim prisons, lunatic asylums, "laughing villains," and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad." Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. Waters's penchant for byzantine plotting can get a bit exhausting, but even at its densest moments--and remember, this is smoggy London circa 1862--it remains mesmerizing. A damning critique of Victorian moral and sexual hypocrisy, a gripping melodrama, and a love story to boot, this book ingeniously reworks some truly classic themes.

From Library Journal: In Victorian London, the orphaned Sue Trinder is raised by Mrs. Sucksby, den mother to a family of thieves, or "fingersmiths." To repay Mrs. Sucksby's kindness, Sue gets involved in a scam but soon regrets it.