Oahu, Hawaii’s amazing trees
My Ann Patchett memoir is lost. I put it somewhere in my house and now I can’t find it.
Never mind, I have piles of other memoirs to read.
This was my first time reading Lauren Winner’s books. I’ve read her pieces in Christianity Today or Books & Culture on occasion. I find I am intrigued by her background and love how she’s taken her upbringing and created such a vibrant faith life. She’s a fellow bookworm (even more so than me) and I actually wanted her to just start listing all her books and more about how she’s organized them as an appendix to her fabulous Girl Meets God memoir.
I’m not Jewish and so I was fascinated by how she traced cherished Jewish holidays in a year of new-to-her Christian holidays. Quite compelling. I also read A.J. Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible and between the two of them I got quite an education about Jewish beliefs and history.
I often like to read two books at the same time; the different voices become clear to me and I find that certain facts jump out at me with more definition than had I just read one or the other.
Both are fabulous. Jacobs has an endearing comic tone that engages you immediately; Winner writes so honestly about a decision that split her life into two pieces. The piece about her meeting a family friend and him not acknowledging her until she walked right up to ask him was very moving. I learned a lot about memoir from these two books that I can apply to my own work.
I also learned that my very juvenile and young Reformation-inspired Protestant beliefs are scary to many who believe in religious systems that have endured for several millennium. I could judge and point out that perhaps clinging to tradition is one of our problems in the modern world, but I also see that having no traditions often leads to great spiritual error (dominionism = extreme patriarchy).
Thank goodness for Jesus, the Son of God, who covered all of it so very long ago. Winner looks back longingly at her familiar traditions and Jacobs looks forward with a new perspective on the Bible and those who read it and love it and emerges with a calmer, less-rigid agnostic belief system. I emerged from both books changed myself. May we all reach for the common ground that we can find. We can learn something from everybody. I guarantee it.
Grade: Both books get an A.
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Agreed on Winner’s book… read it years ago when I started college. Very refreshing. The other one looks very intriguing. Will have to check that one out.
Sheree, yes! Krista put me onto A.J. Jacobs’s book. I have two of his other books on my shelf. He’s so funny.
I have two more Winner books on my shelf as well. So much to read, so little time. Hope you are well!
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