Synopses & Reviews
Following the enormous success of her two bestselling novels,
The Red Tent and
Good Harbor, award-winning author Anita Diamant delivers a book of intimate reflections on the milestones, revelations, and balancing acts of life as a wife, mother, friend, and member of a religious community.
Before The Red Tent, before Good Harbor, before and during six books on contemporary Jewish life, Anita Diamant was a columnist. Over the course of two decades, she wrote essays about friendship and family, work and religion, ultimately creating something of a public diary reflecting the shape and evolution of her life -- as well as the trends of her generation.
Pitching My Tent collects the finest of these essays, all freshly revised, updated, and enriched with new material, forming a cohesive and compelling narrative. Organized into six parts, the shape of the book reflects the general shape of adult life, chronicling its emotional and practical milestones. There are sections on marriage and the nature of family ("Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage"); on the ties that bind mother and child ("My One and Only"); on the demands and rewards of friendship ("The Good Ship"); on the challenges of balancing Jewish and secular calendars ("Time Wise"); on midlife ("In the Middle"); and on what it means to embrace Judaism in today's culture ("Home for the Soul").
Review
"Diamant's fans will relish 'Midrash-or Not,' which answers the question of whether The Red Tent is really Bible commentary. Taken together, these morsels will make a tasty snack for Diamant's admirers." Publishers Weekly
Review
"[A] humorous, honest, and friendly collection impossible not to love." Library Journal
About the Author
Personal without being confessional, devotional but also genuinely funny,
Pitching My Tent displays the wit, warmth, honesty, and wisdom that have delighted Diamant's readers for decades. Anita Diamant, the author of six books about contemporary Jewish life and two novels, is a prizewinning journalist whose work has appeared regularly in
The Boston Globe Magazine and
Parenting. The Red Tent, her first novel, was named Book Sense Book of the Year. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage
The Kiss 5
Religious Fanatics 11
Why Marry? 15
Blast Offf 19
Nagging 24
Truce and Consequences 28
Grief, Dispossessed 32
Airing It Out 36
Bedtime Story 41
Fireflies 44
My One and Only
One 55
Nursing a Dream 59
Tender Triangle 63
Artful 67
Reading Material 70
Learning to Let Go 74
Beach Beacon 77
Dear Emilia 80
The Mother's Bat Mitzvah Speech 83
Columbine 86
Friday Night at the Crossroads 89
The Good Ship
Side by Side 97
Girlfriends, in Particular 101
With a Friend in Mourning 104
A Four-way Debate 107
Widening the Circle 110
To Sir, with Love 113
Dogs and Katz 116
Time Zones
Straddling the Calendar 125
Rosh Hashanah 128
The Sukkah Next Door 132
Assimilating Thanksgiving 135
Christmas Lessons 138
Ha-Ha-Hanukkah 141
Purim Rocks 145
The Orange on the Seder Plate 148
Yom HaShoah 151
Yahrzeit 154
In the Middle
Midlife, the Beginning 161
First Flame 165
Vigil 169
Time-out 173
Good-bye 176
Heaven on Earth 179
The Communal Route 183
Home for the Soul
Aleph-Bet 191
Reforming 194
My Teacher 198
Joyful Noise 201
Meeting Adjourned 204
Midrash - or Not 207
Living Waters 211
Community 217
Acknowledgments 221