(no subject)

Well, I finished The Red Tent, and I really found it to be fascinating. Unfortunately, I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second. As I wrote last time, I loved the descriptions of daily life in the first half. That was really what was most appealing to me about the whole book. In the second half all kinds of drama started happening that I just felt like I could have done with out. I would have preferred to go on reading reading forever about the five women who were central to the story; their individual stories, their relationships with each other, their time in the red tent together, their various pregnancies and births... I really responded very deeply to the traditions of their lives. More than once while reading the book, I found myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind living that way..." I think that my problem with the second half of the book was not that I didn't want to read about the events, but rather that I didn't like the fact that those events were leading up to the eventual end of all those traditions I liked so much. But even if I didn't like the second half, it's still a very good book. I don't want to give the impression that it's an extremely feminist book, because it's not, but I still have to say that it's probably a book that every woman should read, just because it presents such a wonderful notion of women supporting each other, learning from each other, and valuing each other's wisdom. I wish that we still had something like the red tent nowadays...

Anyhow, I am now reading A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle. I've only just started it, but I like it already. Then again, I'm a huge fan of Roddy Doyle's, so that's not a big surprise.

Oh, and I haven't really cooked anything too exciting this week, although I'm planning on chicken with broccoli and carrots in onion gravy tonight. Should be pretty good...