There’s another review of Eve online! It hails from my brother’s Presbyterian church in Alabama.  They’re not recommending the book.  You can read the review here.  [Update 2.16.11: This link is now dead.]

If you go to the Media Page, you can read all the reviews on Eve so far.  Because the reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews are not yet in print, I can’t include them in their entirety.  That will come later, once they’ve published them in full.  You’ll get a taste, not a swallow.

Moving on…Aimee, a friend of mine, sent me this link to kellymom where there’s a reprint of Ian Frazier’s Atlantic Monthly February 1997 article called “Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father,” written in the same vein as God’s Laws in the Old Testament, but referring to the new-and-revised behaviors Frazier expects of his children.  Hilarious!  Good for a new mom like me.  Seriously, there are some days that only laughter can help.

Changing subjects again…I must talk about Dawkins once more (and not forget to mention Christopher Hitchins and Sam Harris, which one of my dear friends reminded me of).  I can’t tell you how many e-mails I received about Wednesday’s post–the gratefulness for even raising it in this blog, the feeling of not-aloneness, and the frustration at Christians who do have their blinders on.  It makes me sad to think that so many people, like me, have a paucity of Christian friends who are willing to discuss in an open fashion.  [I only pinpoint my Christian friends, because I don’t have the same problem with my other friends (I’m generalizing, of course).  They are the most open and engaging sort of people.  Why is that?]  What I mean by discussing in an open fashion is a sincere, “Oh, could you explain why you feel that way?  Oh, that’s interesting.  I had never thought of it that way.”  Rather than a “Wow, are you a nitwit or what?  How could you even ask that question?  Are you stupid?”  That’s why I want to make it clear that right here, on my blog, I want to promote an open and charitable forum for people of all walks of life, of all religions (or of no-religion), and of all backgrounds.  My goal is to make this blog a safe haven–seeking the ever-elusive answers together–because that’s what life is all about.  And I will never claim to know the answer.  How could I?  I’m in the same boat you all are in.  [On that note, I’ve posted a new quote on my main Blog page!]

That said, no matter what you believe, I would encourage you to read Dawkins and Hitchins and Harris.  I believe that the reason some people of faith may refuse to read these authors is that they’re afraid of being misled.  I can tell you right now that if you’re intelligent and savvy and curious, you won’t be “misled.”  What will happen is that you will see another side of the argument, which will cause you to think.  It’s like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.  I had friends who were afraid to read it. Why?  I don’t understand.  [I’ll add one more note.  It’s those same friends who had no clue how to talk about it with their friends.  How useful is that?]

I’m trying to get through Hitchins’s The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever.  My brain cells get a work out, and I’m happy to be actively engaging with the author, even though I’m reading his words and not talking with him.

Sigh.  If we could only all meet for tea to discuss these quandaries in life, wouldn’t that be grand?