In any case, for me, I can't imagine that the divine would no longer feel a need to communicate with his or her people, or that people would stop writing divinely inspired words down.

Wrod.

I understand that the closed canon and the doctrine of inerrancy are helpful when confronted with someone who says, "The Goddess of Victory has commanded that we be shod with her swoosh and divested of our manhoods and free of these mortal coils when the mother ship arrives," but I think it's doing calligraphy with a paint roller to suggest that God only speaks with an antique tongue and is constrained within the letterforms of a single book. John the gospel writer said, "If all the stories of Jesus were written down, I suppose that the whole world would not be big enough to contain them." OWTTE.

I suppose my personal beliefs run along the lines of "Israel is the chosen people (are the chosen people?); God chose to reveal himself to the world through them; therefore their history is most pertinent when seeking a true knowledge of him." On the other hand (or maybe on the same hand—I have difficulty following my logic), if all you're seeking is the means to justify your ends, pretty much any book will do, the venerabler the better. Just because you can find a verse or two that seems to support your case does not mean that the inerrant Bible supports your cause. The true truth, in some mysterious way, comes when you allow God's spirit to infuse the words with his meaning and his agenda, and he can do that through The Red Tent as easily as he can through the Bible with the caveat that the Bible is focused pretty exclusively on his character, whereas The Red Tent is pretty exclusively focused on Dinah's.

Since I fancy myself a writer, I tend to think of God as a writer. (One of us is made in the other's image.) I have this whole theology built up around this idea (and feel free to skip the rest of this post (if you haven't already) if you're really not interested in my theology). When I'm in the zone, writing is almost indistinguishable from reading, and my characters have free will to do whatever they want. Sometimes I'm surprised and delighted. Sometimes I'm surprised and horrified. The choice is always there to keep writing or to Select All Delete. God has thus far elected to keep writing, and his greatest story began (more or less) with the Exodus and ended (more or less) with the Resurrection. But the life of every single person/nation/donkey is a story written by God, and every single star and speck is a relevant detail he included. Seen in this light the Bible is the crib sheet to the Cliff Notes that someone scrawled onto their wrist, and we're trying to read it, if at all, from our seat two desks away in the middle of the exam.

In other words, God wrote the real story of Dinah more vividly and poignantly than Anita Diamant did. The writer of the Genesis narratives may not have thought it worth wasting much wrist space on, but that does not rule out the possibility that God was supremely pleased that Diamant did her best to recreate Dinah's story. He may have even whispered a favorite detail or two in her ear.

Well, I've read the first two pages of Mr. Sandman. I think I'm going to like it.

Edited to ungaiman the selection. Not that reading The Sandman series or any graphic novel in Book Club wouldn't totally rock.

Wolfram, you're reading, Mr. Sandman, by Barbara Gowdy, right? I'm just double checking, I mean...I know that's the selection, but there's a title, The Sandman, edited by Neil Gaiman, and his graphic novel collection... well, just double checking.

Thanks Cindy. Fixed to reflect the right book. I think discussion starts on that next Monday, right?

Well, I still haven't finished the book, and I notice that nobody's posted yet which may mean that most people haven't finished it either. If you all are like me, it's because time has gotten scarcer and scarcer as the year wraps up.

Under the circumstances, I thought maybe we could take a month hiatus and push the discussion date for Mr. Sandman to mid-January. Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Good luck to you on the job-hunt?

Also, I think a hiatus is a good idea.

Also, I've had some ideas about which books tend to generate better discussion here and which do not. I'll toss out some notions on that when I get a chance. Nothing inflammatory - just trying to work with the format here when we make selections.

I like the hiatus idea, because I haven't even had time to get the book, but less read. Honestly, at this point I don't even remember what book we're on. January sounds much better.

Good luck to you on the job-hunt?

Thanks. Admitting it on the board just makes it seem more real, y'know?

Also, I've had some ideas about which books tend to generate better discussion here and which do not. I'll toss out some notions on that when I get a chance. Nothing inflammatory - just trying to work with the format here when we make selections.

Love to hear 'em. I've enjoyed all the selections so far, but some definitely get a greater discussion response than others.

Admitting it on the board just makes it seem more real, y'know?

It's like a 12 step program.

I've enjoyed all the selections so far, but some definitely get a greater discussion response than others.

In brief, my observation is that the books which have generated the most discussion were things which people related to in a personal way. They wanted to discuss the characters actions and motives and relate them to things in their lives.

Now for some folks, that might seem like a big "Duh" - but that's not the way a lot of literary discussion goes (as we found out with The Intuitionist).

I just think a book like Russell Banks Sweet Hereafter which has ambiguities and human tragedy and muddled motives would provide space for speculation and discussion. I'm not pimping that particular book, mind you, it was just the first example that came to mind as the kind of book I think will work with this group in this format.

I think people enjoyed reading Small World but it's eventful, plot oriented structure didn't really open itself to discussion, and people weren't that keen on discussing its formal elements either.

I'm trying to think of some other examples of books which have a slightly more inward, character driven, psychologically astute approach, but also enough plot elements and complexity in the characters motives and decisions. Uhm, The Ice Storm?

Does anybody know what I'm getting at?

Wolfram, all the best to you. May you find exactly what you need, and find it better than you'd dared to hope.