May Reading Roundup
This is embarrassing.
Well. Ok. I spent a lot of this month trying to pick a book for the book club that I run for church! As you can see, it did not go so well. Let’s get into it.
Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin: I read this and we picked it as our church summer read. I have read several books by Father Martin and we do have some theological differences, I mean he is a Jesuit priest and I am an ordained woman minister, but I find his work to be meaningful and this book was spiritually helpful to me as I was reading it.
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (a reread): What a story! This was our church book club selection for May and I think it is such a beautiful and timely story about an immigrant child from Iran. I loved our discussion about it and I am glad I got a chance to reread it.
Make Believe by Mac Barnett: I already said what I needed to say about this book here. I do want to say that we are big Mac Barnett fans and when we have been able to interact with him, he has been so incredibly kind to Atticus, even as Atticus has aged out of Mac’s target audience. I cannot ever repay him for what he has given to my kid over the years.
Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan: I read this to consider it for church book club and it’s a good story! But I like for church book club to mean something and I didn’t feel like this would really mean anything so I decided to pass on it. It’s a good story though!
Frozen River by Ariel Lawson: This one is like 50/50 did I read it for myself or did I read it for church book club. It finally came in after I’d been on hold for it for a while. I liked it a lot but it didn’t strike me as a perfect church book club book. To be honest, I try to avoid sexual assault as a plot line for church book club. This story had very good reasons to have that as a plot (based on actual events) but it did not feel right to me to pick it.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce: I read this to see if it would work for book club and it was a no for me. I have a lot of friends who liked it but I did not.
Magdalene by Marie Howe: I enjoyed this book of poetry!
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones: This is a good story about two girls around the same age who have the same father and different mothers and do not know about each other. I read it to consider it for church book club, and I did like the book a lot but there is not a lot of resolution to the story so it left me a little unsatisfied. I decided not to pick it for church book club.
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie: Well, I liked this book a lot! I did read it to consider it for church book club. It’s about a young Black woman in 1961 from a small town who travels to Atlanta to obtain an illegal abortion. Along the way she meets a lot of people she would have thought of as heathens but she begins to broaden her horizons and see a new kind of life for herself. The protagonist and story were very engaging, but while she was in Atlanta she met: SNCC, the Nation of Islam, the Klan, Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, and Bayard Rustin and some other LGBTQ Black activists. It kinda felt like Forrest Gump. I liked our protagonist so much! But it didn’t feel right for church book club because I thought they would already know about the people involved. It’s good, though, you should read it.
Banyan Moon by Thao Thai: I liked this book but not enough to pick it for church book club.
Who Is Government by Michael Lewis: I really enjoyed this. It is about some of the individuals who work in government (or did at the time) and the public good that their work does. It’s pretty moving in some places (I did cry once) and also I learned about some very cool jobs. When I was a teenager one of my favorite movies was Dave. If you believe, like Dave, that government can and should help people, you will like this book. It’s a tough time to read it but it helps remember what we are fighting for. I didn’t want it for church book club but I suggested it to one of our Sunday School classes that might like it.
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett: The author of The Help is very careful to talk about class and not race in this book, which is also full of plucky women who stand in for the modern-day reader. It’s too long but it will please a lot of book clubs and inform many readers about the unsavory history related to the treatment of “feebleminded women” and the quest (much like today) to promote a certain standard of “virtue.” The book takes a turn in part two that is both zany and extremely serious. Reviews on this are mixed but I found it to strike a good balance between humor and desperation while examining how women find ways to push back against power structures. It did feel a little shaggy while having a mostly neat (if somewhat abrupt) ending but I think overall this will be a hit this summer.
The Christian Past That Wasn’t by Warren Throckmorton: This is an in-depth examination of claims that Christian nationalists make about the founding of America. Throckmorton is generous to call them “myths” while also showing us that men like David Barton and Doug Wilson are lying, and that they know they are lying. (He does call them “storytellers.”) Throckmorton is a retired professor, and takes great care to show his work and cite his sources. The book is a little dry for my taste, but if you are interested in the topic of Christian nationalism and want to be able to argue/discuss claims about America’s establishment, founding fathers, and founding documents, I really do not know of a better or more thorough resource. He takes care to point out at the end that we need to keep a close eye on what is happening in our schools. The goal is to control the narrative by any means necessary, and schools continue to be the testing grounds for this propaganda.
When God is Silent by Barbara Brown Taylor: I read this for the sermon I was working on. Obviously it is great because it’s Barbara Brown Taylor.
The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage: I enjoyed this novel about a wayward princess who finds herself unexpectedly the heir to the throne. It’s probably realistic that the book couldn’t decide whether it hated the riches of royalty or loved them but it did make it hard to stick the landing.
The Women on Platform Two by Laura Anthony: I read this to consider it for church book club but we just did another Irish book with similar themes so it didn’t seem right. This was a great choice for book clubs, though, with themes about feminism and reproductive justice.
Live, Laugh, Love by Kristin Kobes Du Mez: This is the follow up to Jesus and John Wayne except it is focused on white American (evangelical, mostly) Christian women. I just finished it today so I haven’t fully processed- I am going to say more about it later. It talked about a lot of things I lived through and I am not yet sure how to converse about it! Stay tuned.
Ejaculate Responsibly by Gabrielle Blair (a reread): I reread this to prepare for a church discussion and it’s just such a great book for talking about women and reproductive freedom.
As you can see, I read a lot of books for church! I still haven’t picked a book for church book club. If you want to leave a suggestion in the comments, I’m happy to have some brainstorming.