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The book is based on a very minor character in the bible, Dinah. Only daughter of Jacob and Leah and sister of Joseph. If you are familiar with the Bible, then you know the backstory it is based on, which is Jacob and his four wives. Which started with him marrying sisters, Leah and Rachel and eventually adding on their handmaidens, Zilpah and Bilhah.

That is the back story and the rest becomes fictional as Diamant tells an engrossing story of being a woman in the biblical days. The Red Tent is told from the perspective of Dinah and is in reference to the tent where the women gathered during their period, where they gave birth and where they stayed to recuperate after. Traditions, stories and secrets were kept in this tent and bonds formed.

When I started the book, my slow self didn’t realize it was based on the bible (remember how I told you guys, I go in blind on books) and a few pages in was when I realized it. I was ready to drop the book because I wasn’t sure I was feeling it. I decided to keep on trucking and I am glad I did.

The author kept to facts in two areas – the generational tree/family members/characters and the big story about Dinah that was mentioned in the Bible where she was raped by a Prince and her brothers sought revenge – this is slightly tweaked in the book where Dinah is actually in love with the Prince.

I was truly in awe of how Diamant was able to form a whole community and life story for characters that were mentioned only in passing in the Bible. In fact, at some point I went back to Genesis to read how they were depicted in comparison to the book. I was fully engrossed in their life story and genuinely interested to see how it ended up.

In some ways, I see it as the anti-thesis of The Handmaid’s Tale where there is a group of women that aren’t being held down by the system and are instead empowered and encourage each other.

Just in case you were thinking that this book is a religious book, I would like to mention how it totally isn’t one. It just happens to be characters from the Bible. I was reminded while looking up something that the book was turned into a miniseries by Lifetime some time ago, so if you’d like to add the joy of viewing to your reading pleasure, that’s an option too.

I can see how this book could be polarizing. Either you like it or you don’t. But overall, I found it an enjoyable book and rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Taynement

Mulling over our reading goals for the year had me thinking about how I seem like an unserious student while Leggy is the better focused student. Although I didn’t have any focused goals for the year, I dug deep to think of some reading/book related habits that I have since I like to consider myself an “avid reader”.

Come on in and lean closer let me share them with you:

• I don’t buy books: When I met Leggy, this young lady would tell me about books she was buying and I would be aghast and wonder how much she was spending. I don’t believe in buying books because I’d be broke. Every now and then I look up a book and I can’t even bring myself to pay $14.99 for a book. Might consider it if it’s a title I really want to read – as long as it’s under $5. The last few book purchases I have made have been via gift cards.
• Do not read books twice: Besides being a cheapo cheap ass, I also don’t buy books because I do not read books twice. I totally get people loving a book and going back to read it to relive the feeling they had or connect with the words on the page but not I. Thinking in that line, why would I buy a book that I’d never touch or glance at again?
• Avid library user: Continuing with the two points above, this is where my library habit rears its head. My books come from the library. I am a registered and avid user and would donate money if need be. Libraries are one of the most under utilized amenities that we have that is a huge blessing. What a resource! My library is so good that if they don’t have a book in stock, I can recommend it and I will have it within a week. So convenient. Leggy come tell the people how I changed your life:

(lol. I actually do not buy books anymore because of Taynement. I might buy the occasional book because of audible or a book subscription service that I have, but I do not remember the last time I went to Amazon or Barnes & Nobles and purchased a book that wasn’t a Cook Book. Use your library people! I can’t count the number of people who I’ve encouraged to sign up at their library because of Tayne. It has saved me a shit ton of money and I literally do not understand how I bought those many books as a student. I rarely even reread books!! So yeah, this is  the story all about how Taynement changed my life.                                                                                                                                                               – Leggy

(You’re welcome)

• Strictly E-books: Yep. I feel like a fraud because I honestly don’t have these strong emotional feelings such as when people say “I don’t want this book to end, I am so sad”. For me, there are so many more great books to explore that I can’t wait to start another, no time for sadness. Same goes for when people say they love the smell of books and the feel of turning pages. All great and romantic but not for this girl. Gimme an e-book anytime, any day. It feels so awkward to have a physical book in my hands, I don’t think I know how to hold and turn page and function. Okay that’s a bit dramatic but yea gimme the feel of a tablet any day. I think I read faster that way also.
• Audiobooks: I shunned audio books for the longest time and my friend tried to get me on it and I kept ignoring her. I finally tried it with my first ever being a self-help book and it wasn’t so bad. I tried with fiction and while I’d zone out some, I finally got used to it. Here’s the caveat. I only do audio books in my car while I am driving (way too much TV to watch when I am home), so it usually takes me a bit longer to get through because I don’t have a long commute unless I have to take a long distance trip. If you have been iffy about it, I recommend giving it a shot. They are particularly good for celeb bios especially when they read their own books

I don’t want to keep you guys any longer than you should be but those are a few of my reading habits. A little bonus habit is how I sneak in a bit of reading while watching TV, depending on the show. Some shows are “ear TV” and don’t necessarily require full attention so I am able to get some pages in.

What do you guys think? Relate to any of them? What are some of your reading habits that you’d like to share.

“You can love what you see in the mirror but you can’t self esteem your way out of how the world treats you”

Celebrity memoirs are always so interesting because I think a lot of them think they have a lot to say just on the basis of being famous. I almost always do celebrity memoirs on audio especially if they read it themselves. This is not exactly a memoir, she calls it “a collection of essays” so go into this with that in mind. I picked up Gabrielle’s essay collection right after I read “The Devil All the Time” by Donald Ray Pollock because I needed a palette cleanser after that really dark book.

This collection of essays starts with Gabrielle’s childhood in a very white neighborhood which they moved to against her mother’s wishes of moving to the more black neighborhood of Oakland, takes us through the mishaps and ups of her career, to rape, terrible marriage, colorism and a lot more. Union’s words are very clear and precise. Whether she’s telling you about trying to cure a yeast infection at home or about the Black Lives Matter movement. She has a strong voice and knows exactly what she wants to convey.

This book feels surprisingly honest. She doesn’t shy away from messy feelings and tells you exactly how she felt when she was negotiating her prenup with Dwayne Wade, to being a stepmother and heartbreakingly, details of her failed IVF cycles.

The writing style is super casual when she is talking about personal topics. Her tone shifts and becomes soap-boxy and impersonal when she tackles universal and politically charged topics but she always ended it on a personal or funny note which brought it back to base for the reader.

This book has helped me see Gabrielle Union in a totally different light. As a black women who had to learn to accept her blackness in the white dominated areas she has inhabited for most of her life. And as an actor who has had to advocate for herself when no one else was going to do it for her.

Whether she is telling us a story about Prince or having to put vanilla yogurt into her vagina via a straw, “We are Going to Need More Wine” overall feels like an authentic breath of fresh air from a celebrity that actually has something to say.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Have you read it? Would you recommend it?

Leggy

Taynement

Happy New Year, everyone!! With a new year comes more books to be read. My reading goals sort of mirror my actual life in that, I never have any set or intentional goals per se. I just have a general idea of the kinds of books I like and would like to read and if it comes my way, I will go for it. The actual goals I may have are maybe the number of books I’d like to read and that was because Good Reads made me and I picked a random number.

Part of the reason why my goals are flexible is because I don’t buy books and solely depend on availability from my library to determine what I get to read or not. The books I read are  based on popularity sometimes i.e books that are talked about a lot among critics or are generally just popular (the fear of FOMO is real) and recommendations from Leggy and another friend of mine (who I have concluded does not share my taste in books and yet I keep listening to her)

All that being said, I expect to have per usual a bunch of fiction and a handful of celeb autobiographies in the mix. Leggy keeps trying to get me to read fantasy novels but I don’t anticipate that it’ll happen this year 😀

Leggy

Funny, one of my goals this year is to make Taynement read “Red Rising” by Pierce Brown. This is the book I always recommend to people who want to make an entrance to fantasy and it’s definitely going to happen this year, even if I have to read it to her!!

Anyway, I always pick the number of books I want to read every year on Good Reads and then read anything that sounds good to me. Last year, I picked 70 books and I accomplished it even though I was stuck on 65 for the longest and really didn’t think I was going to make it. This year, I picked 70 again. I never know exactly what I’m going to read every year. At the beginning of every year, I max out my library holds (and Taynement’s) with books I’ve heard about and never got around to reading or books that made the year’s best books lists. Every year though, I try to think about what type of books I’d really like to read that year so that I can have a checklist in mind when looking for books that I might be interested in.

This year, I want to read:

• Books predominantly written by women – Especially by black women. I read a lot of epic fantasies and this is not a female dominated area at all, so if you do read fantasy and have come across great female authors that you’d like me to take a look at please leave a comment (p.s – I do not like fantasy books that are predicated on love.)
• Tackle a big classic –  I already know what big classic I want to tackle this year and that is “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas. The second option is “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy if I’m feeling generous because everyone knows I find Russian novels just exhausting!!

Other than that, I intend to read anything that sounds great.

Here’s to wishing everyone a happy reading year!

Do you have any reading goals for the year? Comment down below and tell us what they are!

Taynement 

The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotosho

I requested this book at my library just to make sure I was the first to get it once it was released. No reason other than the Nigerian name and accolades it was getting. Per usual, I had no idea what it was about. I finally got it and I did not finish it in the allotted library time (21 days). Not a good sign because that is more than enough time to finish a book. I joined a wait list and requested it again and still struggled with getting through with it. And that pretty much sums up my reading experience.

The book details the story of two elderly women who are neighbors, Hortensia James who is black and Marion Agostino who is white. They both reside in post-apartheid Cape Town, South Africa. Both hardened by life and its experiences and also recently widowed, the woman hate each other and make no efforts to hide it. Something happens that force the women to live together and we get to see them open up to each other as best as they can and give a little insight as to why they are so bitter.

I read so many favorable comments about this book, I was determined to experience it for myself but it just never happened. I couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters. The second half of the book got a little spark and some quotables (I love a good quote) but I really didn’t feel sorry for them as characters, which I usually do whenever the subject is about older people. I think the writing had potential but I just wasn’t feeling the subject matter. Overall, I found the book bland, monotone and in desperate need of keeping me interested.

Leggy

The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis

I did this book on audio because it’s Jenifer “motherfucking” Lewis and I figured hearing her narrate her own life would be fun and entertaining and it was. I enjoyed listening to this book but overall, I was underwhelmed. Jenifer is pretty outspoken about her bipolar disorder and about the fact that she is on medication to control it. She has also been with the same therapist for 17 years and the way she talked about therapy made me want to book a session. I think that she’s doing a lot for mental health education particularly in the black community and this book is a testament to that.

Jenifer talks about her childhood, growing up poor and her relationship with her mother. She talks about being molested as a teenager, being almost raped as an adult and her tumultuous relationships with men and sex. There’s a lot to unpack in this book but I felt like it could have been better arranged, a lot of it jumped around and sometimes, I found it hard to follow the exact timeline. She name drops a shit ton of people in this book and at some point it’s like “ma’am, stop littering and pick up all those names”

She is one of the few Hollywood minorities that have had quite a consistent string of jobs, she booked her first Broadway show just weeks after moving to New York after graduation and has continued to book jobs till now. For fans of Black-ish, she talks about how much fun it is to work on that set and how she got that job without an audition. She has been in the industry for a long time and she has still had to audition for almost every other job she’s had in Hollywood.

Overall, I enjoyed this book even though it was a tad bit underwhelming due to my high expectations. If you decide to get this one, get it on audio. Also, save your audible credit and get it from your library. I gave this 3 stars on my Goodreads.

Taynement: Hi, My name is Taynement.

Leggy: And I’m Leggy.

Taynement: – So…Leggy and I spend a huge amount of time chatting shit. But a portion of that time is devoted to us bitching or praising or recommending one book or the other to each other.

Leggy: And I think our entire friendship was built on bashing books…and gossiping but mostly books.

Taynement: Ha ha. True. Anyways, a good number of people also enjoy reading. So we decided to start a blog to invite a few more people into our conversations and have more view points and recommendations.

Leggy: So this is an introduction to our reading lives and our sincere opinion on all things books. We understand that art is very subjective so we hope this becomes a thriving community filled with different opinions and conversations about books and reading. Enjoy!

Taynement

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Taynement & Leggy