Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 12th Read Harder task.

No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison very much looking forward to reading this book. It also fits the refugee prompt.

So many possibilities!

All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen or Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman

Outlaw Christian: Finding Authentic Faith by Breaking the 'rules' or Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint for me.

I think I'll re-read Elie Wiesel's Night.

Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope - about the Westboro Baptist Church

Looking for suggestions, specifically for a good, christian memoir. (I'm an atheist).

Amy, I posted 2 above. My friend wrote Outlaw Christian, and the parts I have read are good. Also, Jacqueline is brilliant. I have not read Pastrix but I read Nadia Bolz-Weber's second book, Accidental Saints, and it is wonderful.

oh! Adding Everything Happens for a Reason by the amazing Kate Bowler.

Bonnie G. wrote: "Amy, I posted 2 above. My friend wrote Outlaw Christian, and the parts I have read are good. Also, Jacqueline is brilliant. I have not read Pastrix but I read Nadia Bolz-Weber's second book, Accide..."

Thanks

Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age Story

I am looking forward to the audio version of Naturally Tan

I'm contemplating [Yassmin's Story] by Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

I'm probably going to do We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir, which I already have a copy of. It looks great and fits the bill for this one.

Educated by Tara Westover would fit.

Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion or anything else by Danya Ruttenberg would be a good choice to read a Jewish viewpoint.

Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun Would this one work? It's been hanging out on my TBR just asking to be read...

Thinking about Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America by Ayaz Virgi. Would also work for #10.

I'll read Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots for this task.

I'm going with I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

Also tempted by God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America after hearing her interview on It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders on NPR

I really enjoyed Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. Kate is a chaplain (Unitarian Universalist) with the Maine Warden Service. I found her memoir fascinating!

Emerging wrote: "I really enjoyed Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. Kate is a chaplain (Unitarian Universalist) with the Maine Warden Service. I found her memoir fascinating!"

Thank you. Sounds like a great read.

This one lands right in my wheelhouse, so I have tons of suggestions (apologies for the giant wall of text, but I hope it might help those looking for ideas!):

Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life by Amber Scorah is great, about her experiences serving as a JW missionary in China and subsequently leaving the faith.

Nothing: Something to Believe in by Nica Lalli, who was raised without religion, is a good one for the growing category of "nones." Dan Barker's Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists is another secular/atheist memoir, by the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (and a former Evangelical Christian).

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein is a combination of memoir and reportage/cultural criticism about Evangelical purity culture. Garrard Conley's Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family is a beautifully written memoir about family, faith, and conversion "therapy." For anyone who wants to be a little liberal in their interpretation of "memoir" (this is a personal essay anthology), I personally think Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church, edited by Chrissy Stroop and Lauren O'Neal, may fit the spirit of this prompt—contributors include Garrard Conley, Carmen Maria Machado, Sara Nović, and Lyz Lenz.

After Long Silence by Helen Fremont is a beautiful memoir—Fremont was raised Catholic, but discovered as an adult that her parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors who changed their names and took on a Catholic identity to protect themselves.

Catholicism is an integral part of the backdrop (an almost exclusively Irish-American, Catholic community in Boston) to All Souls: A Family Story from Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald.

May Cause Love: An Unexpected Journey of Enlightenment After Abortion by Kassi Underwood is about her experience exploring various spiritual and religious practices.

For lighter/funny memoirs: Shalom Auslander's Foreskin's Lament, Elna Baker's The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, Jennifer Traig's Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, and Daniel Radosh's Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture (Radosh is Jewish and secular, and this is a memoir about his exploration of Christian pop culture in the U.S.).

I think I'll probably go with The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult by Jerald Walker, The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis, or Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope by Megan Phelps-Roper.

You're very welcome, Beth!

Catie wrote: "This one lands right in my wheelhouse, so I have tons of suggestions (apologies for the giant wall of text, but I hope it might help those looking for ideas!):

[book:Leaving the Witness: Exiting a..."

Thanks for a great list. I read a lot in this area as well, but a couple of those were new to me.

I’ve already read The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 but that’d be a great option if you’re looking for a Jewish memoir.

Omg I completely forgot about The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance: A Memoir

Another I've read in the past The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University and would recommend!

@Catie
Thanks for the great list!

Amy J. wrote: "Looking for suggestions, specifically for a good, christian memoir. (I'm an atheist)."

I enjoyed both memoirs by Richard Coles - Bringing in the Sheaves: Wheat and Chaff from My Years as a Priest is about his work as a priest, while Fathomless Riches: Or How I Went From Pop to Pulpit covers his training and his earlier life as the keyboards player in 80s band The Communards. I'm using this prompt as an excuse to re-read both!

Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill is about Scientology, and it’s interesting.

Also, if escaping is your thing, here’s a list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

I might read the new memoir about El Salvador prior to the civil war, What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by the poet Carolyn Forche.

ChezJulie wrote: "I might read the new memoir about El Salvador prior to the civil war, What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by the poet Carolyn Forche."

Does this have anything to do with religion? I have it sitting next to my bed, but am not sure it fits.

Bonnie G. wrote: "ChezJulie wrote: "I might read the new memoir about El Salvador prior to the civil war, What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by the poet Carolyn Forche."
..."

I don't think it has to be about religion, just a memoir by someone whose religious tradition is different from your own, and Forche was raised Catholic. But the book also talks about her encounters with priests and nuns and liberation theology.

Thanks. Regardless of the challenge I will read it. Forche was a mentor to a dear friend of mine with whom regrettably I lost touch, and I have always had a second hand worship for her based on Helen's stories

Bonnie G. wrote: "Thanks. Refardless of the challenge I will read it. Forche was a mentor to a dear friend of mine with whom regrettably I lost touch, and I have always had a second hand worship for her bases on Hel..."

How special. She's an amazing poet, and Book Riot always says that there's no accountability other than to one's self. As an atheist I've been looking for something that fits the challenge but isn't about someone's spiritual journey.

ChezJulie wrote: "Bonnie G. wrote: "Thanks. Refardless of the challenge I will read it. Forche was a mentor to a dear friend of mine with whom regrettably I lost touch, and I have always had a second hand worship fo..."

That makes sense. Hope you enjoy the book. I am always interested in spiritual journeys, even (perhaps especially) those away from religion. I was raised in a secular/agnostic home and came to some sort of religion (I believe in a divine force, and I love the history and liturgy of my chosen religion, but I don't believe any part of the Bible/Torah/Quaran is anyone's origin story and I believe in neither heaven nor hell.) I have two siblings, one Atheist, always and forever, and one who became religious and then became an Atheist. Nearly everyone I care about has had some kind of journey and I generally find them pretty compelling. Lots of grappling. I love grappling.

Amy J. wrote: "Looking for suggestions, specifically for a good, christian memoir. (I'm an atheist)."

I'm using this prompt to finally read the book of Margery Kempe. She's a medieval wife and mother in England, and its probably the oldest known memoir.

The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in

I’m going to read “How We Fight for Our Lives,” Saeed Jones

I'm still wondering what to read for this list although The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult looks really interesting.
I found this list with some great suggestions - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... -

Thirding Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope, one of the most riveting nonfiction books I've ever read.

Amy J. wrote: "Looking for suggestions, specifically for a good, christian memoir. (I'm an atheist)."

What about Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott? It's her story of becoming a Christian as an adult, and like all her books is both funny and moving.

After doing some googling, the book that jumped out at me was The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India. It has Judaism and Buddhism, while I am (nominally, at least) Anglican. I ordered it, and it arrived yesterday, so it's now in my Read Harder pile

Gwyneth wrote: "Amy J. wrote: "Looking for suggestions, specifically for a good, christian memoir. (I'm an atheist)."

What about Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott? It's her story of becoming a Christian as an adu..."

I'll check that out, thanks!

I can recommend The Wife's Tale: A Personal History. It tells the life story of a woman married at 9 years old in 1924 to a priest who becomes very influential in the churches of Gondar, Ethiopia. As well as the life story, the history of Ethiopia during the 20th century is very interesting.

Hi everyone! Our rec post for this task is up now. https://bookriot.com/2019/12/19/relig...

If anyone wants to read about folks from pagan or Goddess based spiritual paths, try The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd or the brand new Initiated by Amanda Yates Garcia.

Pastrix is incredible, btw.

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography was a very good, meditative book about a woman who moves to a small town in South Dakota and continues in a spiritual journey in which she is a (Protestant) lay pastor and a lay member of a Benedictine community. (And it's currently $1.99 for the Kindle edition on Amazon).