Elena's profile

114 ratings | 21 reviews
avg rating: 3.60
Goodreads librarian

Elena's bookshelves

read (113)
currently-reading (2)
to-read (30)
written-in-russian (29)
historical-fiction (23)
christian-fiction (21)

russia (13)
fantasy (11)
family-saga (11)
biography (10)
afghanistan (9)
christian-nonfiction (6)

pearl-from-the-past (6)
world-exploring (6)
childhood-favorite (4)
absolute-favorite (3)
animals (3)
depressing (2)

historical-nonfiction (2)
bad-influence (2)

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Elena is currently reading

	08/07 Elena gave to: The Warrior (Sons of Encouragement #2) by Francine Rivers bookshelves: christian-fiction, currently-reading	my rating:
	read in October, 2007 add a comment
	08/07 Elena is currently reading: My Sister's Keeper (Paperback) by Jodi Picoult bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	add a comment

Elena's recent updates (rss)

July 01

Elena liked a trivia question:
In C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, what mythical creature does Lucy encounter on her first trip through the wardrobe into Narnia? see if you know the answer »

Elena liked a trivia question:
The title of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a quote from which literary detective? see if you know the answer »

Elena took the never-ending book quiz.

questions answered:	10
correct:	5 (50.0%)
skipped:	42
best streak:	2
questions added:	0

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June 20

Elena read and liked Calvin's review of The White Guard:

"One of the masterpieces of Russian Literature "

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May 05

Elena read and liked Sylvia's review of The secret book of Grazia dei Rossi: A novel:

"My favorite novel of all time, Grazia is the daughter of a Jewish banker in Italy in 1400, falling in love with a Christian prince who is forced to marry another. Grazia marries the Pope's Jewish physician who encourages her to continue her scholarsh...more "

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January 14

Elena read and liked Skylar's review of The Red Tent:

"The Red Tent is (very) loosely based on the story of Dinah in Genesis, and it is a book that is very easy to read. Dinah's tale is one that deserves fleshing out; in the Bible it is an interesting though undeveloped and uncertain chronicle. The auth...more The Red Tent is (very) loosely based on the story of Dinah in Genesis, and it is a book that is very easy to read. Dinah's tale is one that deserves fleshing out; in the Bible it is an interesting though undeveloped and uncertain chronicle. The author does a fairly decent job of developing her female characters, her male characters are largely flat, stereotypical, and unnecessarily negative. In the Bible, the characters of Jacob and Joseph are more well-rounded; they are humans with both faults and virtues, moments of greatness and of pettiness. In Diamant’s novel, we largely see only one side to these men--the downside. We never get any sense that they are worth caring about, that there is any emotion within in them that we, as readers, can relate to. The narrator states that Jacob was devastated by Joseph's reported death, but we have no reason to believe it, since the author has neither developed nor depicted any love or affection between them. Although Diamant seems to be developing something interesting in the nature of Judah, she quickly drops the matter.

The author unnecessarily, I believe, alters some segments of the Biblical narrative. She even suggests that the significant, divine naming of Israel (a true milestone in the Jewish story) was nothing more than Jacob's cowardly choice to change his name so as not to be associated with the slaughter in Schechem. When Rachel steals her father's household idol in the novel, Jacob seems both to know and yet not to care (at least for a long time). In the Bible, however, he thinks no one among him has taken it, and he basically says, "If anyone took it, let him die," in effect unknowingly cursing his beloved wife, who does die later in childbirth. Had Diamant not altered this point, it might have made for some wonderful pathos in the novel.

Despite being written by a Jewish author, The Red Tent is in many ways an expression of a growingly popular modern neo-paganism, which incorporates the myth of the universal, goddess/Mother, feminist ideology, and a sort of body/self worship. I don't complain that Anita Diamant made some of the characters pagan; it is clear from the Bible that many early pre Israelites were, and of course, the Israelites themselves were always sliding back to idol worship. But in The Red Tent, Jacob appears to be the only monotheist in the world (and even his monotheism is on shaky grounds). What is more, polytheism almost seems to be portrayed as a healthy, feminine alternative to the somewhat deranged patriarchal religion of Jacob's fathers (an idea that does not comport too well with the actual historical treatment of women in cultures that embrace polytheism and goddess worship). ...less "

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December 20

Elena gave

to:
Dragonquest (Paperback)
by Anne McCaffrey
bookshelves: fantasy

my rating:

read in March, 1995

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Elena gave

to:
The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern, Book 3)
by Anne McCaffrey
bookshelves: fantasy

my rating:

read in April, 1995

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Elena gave

to:
Dragonflight (Mccaffrey, Anne. Dragonriders of Pern.)
by Anne McCaffrey
bookshelves: fantasy

my rating:

read in February, 1995

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see all 113 of Elena's books »

Elena's favorite quotes

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
— Dr. Seuss

tags: confidence, individuality

3924 people liked it

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
— Mark Twain

tags: lies, lying, memory, truth

2312 people liked it

"If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything."
— Malcolm X

1350 people liked it

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
— Albert Einstein

tags: inspirational, life, miracle

1271 people liked it

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
— Mark Twain

tags: dreams

1221 people liked it

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Elena's friends (8)

	Lisa 82 books 3 friends
	John 263 books 1295 friends
	Melissa 115 books 28 friends
	Yana 0 books 2 friends
	Sofia 18 books 12 friends
	Yelena 0 books 1 friend
	Carolyn 0 books 1 friend
	Violetta 14 books 4 friends

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