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Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. Things are looking a little spooky here in Portland and I wish I meant that in a good way. The winds and smoke blowing in from Northern CA and now fires of our own have this place looking like a house is about to drop on a witch in sparkly red shoes. *shivers*
Before I dive into today’s book club nibbles and reads, seeing caravans of gun-toting “vigilantes” descend on my city has shaken me a little bit. It’s not surprising, but still upsetting. So here’s a friendly reminder to make sure you’re registered to vote and that you’re still doing your part to effect change. Black lives still matter, always have and always will; whether you’re on the ground protesting, donating to bail funds, or spreading the word to get resources to the people who need them, keep on keepin’ on.
To the club!!
Nibbles and Sips
I’m hanging on to these last days of summer and taking advantage of seasonal produce. If peaches are available where you are, please treat yourself to this delicious peach and burrata salad from the ladies of Food Heaven. Founders Wendy and Jess are two Black registered dietitians who take a very honest and accessible approach to nutrition. They don’t push weight loss (amen!) and teach an intuitive approach to eating (again, not about weight loss, just getting the nutrition your body needs). These two are funny as hell and their recipes are delicious! Learn more from their website, podcast, and check them out on the gram. I know this reads like an ad, but I promise you these women have never heard of me. I’m just a girl standing in front of a hunk of burrata asking it to love me.
Recipe tip: I grilled the peaches on the stove with a tiny bit of agave because ya girl was not about to turn on the oven in this heat, and I also did a super quick pickle on the red onions with some red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes.
A Religious Experience – I’ve been pulling from the Read Harder challenge for inspiration lately because the books I’ve been reading for the show just feel so timely. We most recently covered the task on religious memoirs outside of our own tradition (or lack thereof) and I thought I’d suggest this same them for the club. These are books that have reminded me of a few truths I hope you’ll discuss and unpack:
- Religious divide is hardly a new thing in this country or in the world.
- Not all people who’ve been cast out by the faith they were raised in want a clean break from that community (though I understand why many would, truly). Many just want to find a safe space therein.
- For a country allegedly built on the separation of church and state, religion has been very intentionally woven into the fabric of the US and it was done for a very specific purpose (see God Land).
- It’s easy to think one’s faith is “better” or worse than another, but I’ve found that so many of the most beautiful and the most hateful/hurtful/prejudiced parts feel very similar from religion to religion. This sounds dire, but it can also be strangely hopeful if you look at it from a “we’re more alike than you think” perspective.
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib – Samra Habib was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan where her Ahmadi Muslim family experienced regular threats from Islamic extremists. Her family went to Canada as refugees, where young Samra assumed the worst of her troubles were behind her. It wasn’t long before she discovered a whole new set of challenges awaited her: bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage while she was still in high school. Slowly, Samra begins to begrudge the pattern of the men in her life policing her every move while the women encouraged pious obedience. This brief but impactful memoir follows Samra as she grows to embrace her creative, feminist spirit and her queerness while also finding a safe space in the Muslim community. (TW: brief reference to childhood sexual abuse)
Educated by Tara Westover – You’ve heard me rave about this one before so I’ll keep it brief, but I can’t talk about memoirs + religion without talking about this story. Tara Westover was raised in rural Idaho by survivalist and fundamentalist Mormon parents who “homeschooled” their children (mainly put them to work in the scrap yard) and denied the validity of modern medicine. Westover decides she wants to go to school and sneakily finds a way to get into BYU, attending school for the very first time at age 17. Tara not only graduated, but went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge. That is all impressive enough on its own, but even more so when you throw in the verbal and physical abuse she endured.
God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America by Lyz Lenz – Before the 2016 election, Lyz Lenz was already in a politically divided marriage and was writing about a trend she’d observed in the closure of small churches in America’s heartland (including one she’s started in her own home). Then the election came (a moment of silence, please). Lenz watched as her country and her marriage were torn apart by issues of faith and politics and what began as a journalistic endeavor also became a deeply personal memoir. “From drugstores in Sydney, Iowa, to skeet shooting in rural Illinois, to the mega churches of Minneapolis, Lenz set out to discover the changing forces of faith and tradition in God’s country.”
Suggestion Section
Apple and Oprah have partnered up to launch a new podcast based on the Oprah book Club. The podcast title, which may surprise you, is Oprah’s Book Club.
Move over, Reese and Oprah. Malala Yousafzai, Steph Curry, and Richard Branson want in on the celebrity book club game.
Susan Orlean says we can expect exceptional writing and lots of wine in her new book club. And here’s a reminder of the time she got drunk and tweeted about it and had a delightful sense of humor about the whole thing.
Ah, remember that sweet, sweet feeling of falling into a book club for the first time?
… and then maybe finding you’re too slow a reader for book club?
Consider joining the #APSTogether book club, an online offering from A Public Space that pairs writers and readers for monthly book discussions.
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa