February 2015 - Theme

We need to set February's theme. The theme of the Category Challenge HistoryCat is going to be Religion. We could go with that or does anyone have any other themes to suggest?

I'd like to suggest Non-Christian Religions as a theme. There are so many religions in the world, and there were a lot of different religions that are no longer practised (or barely), but somehow I always end up reading about Christianity. So, this theme should give a little variety.

Another theme I'd like to suggest is Alternative Marriages - by which I mean non-modern, Western marriages. Think arranged marriages, mail-order brides, harems, stuff like that. Basically, any marriage that isn't a mam-woman love match (at least from the beginnning).

My February list is already full thanks to the CATS, British & American author challenges, and a group read of The Eustace Diamonds - a very long novel which will take up a good chunk of my reading time for the month. I've left a spot open for the RandomCAT. I could make religion (HistoryCAT), marriage, women's history, or poverty work, and possibly politics. Anything other theme would depend on whether or not it could double up with the February RandomCAT.

Non-Christian Religions or religious persecution would work for me.

Just to summarize, so far we have the following suggestions:

* General Religion
* Non-Christian Religion
* Alternative Marriages (arranged, mail-order, harems, etc)
* woman's history
* Poverty
* Politics
* Religious Persecution

I'll leave it for a few more days for anyone to add to and then put up the vote.

I like general religion, which follows the HistoryCat. I've got In This House of Brede as well as a biography of Dorothy Day in TBR, and "general religion" gives me a chance to get around to them.

I could fit my book The White Mare into both general relision as well as non-christian religion. The Twentieth Wife would fit with alternative marriages as well as women's history, I'd think. The other three...I'm not sure of.

Anything other than religion.

>8 majkia: I could fit my Dorothy Day bio (>6 CurrerBell:) into "women's history."

I have no new suggestions to add at this point.

We are rather late in picking our theme for the next month so perhaps we should finalize this vote by January 21st (next Wednesday) so people have time to get the books they need for February.

Voted! I like the general Religions theme or the Woman's History theme. Both are broad and my planned books will fit nicely.

Looks like women's history is in the lead at the moment.

I am not going to be around much tomorrow as I have to take my husband in to see his surgeon so if anyone wants to call the vote tomorrow, please go ahead and do so. At this point in time it appears that General Religion is in the lead, but of course that could change overnight.

It's a very close vote, but it looks like our theme for February is General Religion.

I have The Red Tent by Anita Diamant lined up which should fit this theme nicely.

I also have The Red Tent on the TBR shelves.

I know LOTS of LT people have read it and liked it.

I just bought The Language of the Goddess, which will be a follow-up to this month's Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization: The Influence of Old Europe which I won on Early Review and I'm just finishing. I've also got A Harsh and Dreadful Love: Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement and Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede .

I read The Red Tent a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty good.

I might take this opportunity to read the next book in the Abbess of Meaux mystery series, A Parliament of Spies by Cassandra Clark.

I'll be skipping this month. Unless of course I pick up something that accidentally touches on the subject.

The Februari 2015 Theme will be General Religion


Religious activities around the world.

A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. Many, though not all, religions have organized behaviors, clergy, holy places, and scritpture. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. Religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith, but religion differs from private faith in that it is something that is also social.

The origins of religion is unknown, but religions have been around for a long time. Some religious systems have disappeared, others have emerged since then, and some have changed or transformed. Religion throughout history has brought people together as well as torn them apart.

I'll be reading The White Mare for this, which will (according to the blurb on the back of the book) deal with druidism in Celtic Britain.

I hope to get to Saints and Villains by Denise Giardina, which is about the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer during WWII. No guarantees, though.

I'll be reading The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman which also fits the HistoryCat (1-500 - Religion), the RandomCat (books made into movies or TV series) AND the Year-Long books By and About Women Group Read

I have several planned reads that will fit: Confessions by Augustine, Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh, and King of the Cannibals by Jim Cromarty.

I just thought of another book that would work for this theme, Henna House by Nomi Eve.

>31 cbl_tn: I am also planning to read Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh for the British Author Challenge and had no idea it fit the Religion label. Bonus!

>33 ccookie: Yes, particularly Catholicism. I think it will work!

Please take a minute and visit the March thread. We need some proposals for a Time Period.

I'm going to read The Mystery of the Shemitah
I hope this fits the topic.

I am reading/studying "The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon" by Borg and Crossan. The book highlights the difference between the historical Paul and the Catholic Paul and is based upon the conflict between letters actually written by Paul vs. those clearly written after his death or by later authors using his name.

I'm just about to get started on A Harsh and Dreadful Love, a biography of Dorothy Day combined with a history of the Catholic Worker movement.

For February, I'm continuing with my read of The Iliad. I'm a little more than halfway through and realized that this book would fit as nicely into Religion as it did into January's B.C. The gods have quite a role in this work. They have taken sides in the Trojan War and the Greeks and Trojans at some times seem like their puppets. In Homer's mind and, it seems, in the minds of his fellow Greeks, honoring the gods, especially the 'right' gods was very important. Enjoying this read.

Finished A Harsh and Dreadful Love (2**) and I think I'll do Norman Mailer's The Gospel According to the Son next. It seems a pretty short read, and I do want to get on to Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede and The Language of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas. And I do have Mailer's Ancient Evenings as a holdover from last month (and I still have to see how well it fits the Religion topic).

I've just completed my read of The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I thought the author did a good job of taking the minor biblical story of Dinah and fleshing it out. Very much a story about women, their customs and heritage.

I just bought Sarah by Marek Halter on my ereader. So when I finish my current read, it will be next.

I have finished Sarah by Marek Halter, the story of Sarah and Abraham. It was really easy to read this story that I was not overly familiar with. Sarah was portrayed as a strong woman who had character flaws, which to me, made her more likeable.

Doesn't look like any of my reading for the rest of the month will cover this theme. My completed February books for the theme of "General Religion" were:

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (1920s-1940s English family)(Catholicism)
The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth George Speare (1st c Israel)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis (Christian allegory)
Molly's Pilgrim, Barbara Cohen (children's book - freedom of religion)

I've finished The Iliad. As portrayed in this work, the gods were an integral part of the people's lives. Although not able to change someone's fate, they were able to aid those who took them seriously; for example, plucking a favorite out of harm's way in battle or allowing the body of a favorite not to decay until it was able to be retrieved and the ceremonies of death performed. The gods also were able to punish those who did not treat them with respect. Interesting reading.