June 9, 2020

May Books 2020




The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

This was fabulous. I had never read anything like it. It stood out because ancient world fiction is not my go-to genre. I had just finished Genesis as part of a Bible-reading plan a few months ago but this prompted me to go back and re-read large chunks of it to see where the author was getting her inspiration. I took a huge deep-dive and then did some research online. Anything that makes me that interested is worthy of 5 stars. 
As a narrative, this is a solid hero's journey. It has a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. It's just so well-crafted. 
I could describe it as taking a couple of chapters from Genesis and blowing it up into a 300 page novel. The amount of research was probably astounding, because a whole world was created. It was just good. 
The author took a lot of liberties but, truthfully, there's no reason why things couldn't have happened somewhat the way they did in this story. 
And we often forget that the Israelites were a broken group of people who constantly made mistakes and God pursued them anyway. This book has more about the pagan gods than God himself, because God was Jacob's God and this story isn't about Jacob. Jacob was the strange outsider with an "invisible god" in this book. 

Anyway. Super good. You should read it. I picked it up in as a Kindle deal because I'd seen it recommended by someone but I also read The Boston Girl years ago. I liked the story of The Boston Girl but the narration was awwwwwful. I don't recommend the audio. 





This was rom-com but deeper. It was vey well-done in many ways. I don't have anything bad to say, actually. I felt for Laurie. I really liked Jamie. It was so much better than the typical rom-com/romance. I had another of this author's ebooks from the library but it expired before I read it. I didn't hate it either but, truthfully, I find it to be a lot more work to read a rom-com than any other type of book. I really have to psych myself up to push through these types.
But If I Never Met You was so good that I wanted to keep reading! 
I will say this was about 100 pages too long...430 some pages? It was a great story but lots of words. Could've been told in a lot less? 





I really enjoyed this. It was suspenseful and created a realistic fictional world; meaning a world with a historical backstory and that was kind of interesting. There's a bit of suspension of disbelief toward the end but it wasn't completely out there. 
So a suspense thriller? Check. I recommend it. 


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So it was NOT a heavy reading month, though I did read often and had memorable reading experiences; it wasn't a ton of books. 

I'm still 4 books ahead of my goal for the year and currently trying to get through some library ebooks before they disappear from my Kindle. 


Linking up with Jana and Steph!

14 comments:

  1. I will have to check out all of these reads.

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  2. The Red Tent was so enjoyable! Glad to see it getting some love :) Looking into If I Never Met You, sounds great.

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  3. Those last two are on my tbr list. Our library opened this week with curbside pickups so we'll see how my holds list starts coming in, ha!

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  4. I'm reading Home Before Dark by Riley Sager right now and I really need to read his backlist. I've wanted to read them for the longest time.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  5. I tried to read The Red Tent like 15 years ago and just couldn't get into it. My mom loved it, though.

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  6. I love love love The Red Tent. One of my favorite books of all time.

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  7. I read the Red Tent many years ago, and I still remember loving it. Thanks for the recommendations. My latest book reviews ~
    Tanya - The Other Side of the Road

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  8. Romcoms are my favorite, so of course I loved If I Never Met You. I get why some people don't like them though. Lock Every Door sounds interesting.

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  9. lock every door is on my list! sounds really interesting.

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  10. I remember loving The Red Tent too .. you're making me want to go back & read it again. I think they made it into a movie.

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  11. Lock Every Door was an okay read for me. Just added If I Never Met You to my to read list.

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  12. I didn't read The Red Tent when it came out, but sounds like I should now!

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  13. The Red Tent sounds intriguing. I don't know if I'm up to a story with too many pages lately. LOL But a good story is always good :) Thanks for sharing!

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  14. My mom read The Red Tent and has been recommending it to me for years, but I was like mom I don't trust you haha! Now I may have to actually go read it...

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