I Was Told to Come Alone by Souad Mekhennet

October 28, 2018 by Christina

Nonfiction — Kindle edition. Henry Holt and Co, 2017. 368 pgs. Library copy. Subtitled “My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad”, Mekhennet’s memoir begins with a recounting of her childhood in Morocco. Born in Germany, Mekhennet was sent to live with her grandmother in Morocco while her mother and father worked as a cook and cleaner, respectively, in Germany. Her exposure to the language and to her family’s history as Muslims in North Africa may have set her apart from […]

Categories: 2018 Reads, Africa, Book Club, Europe, France, Germany, Middle East, Nonfiction, ReadDiverse, Religion • Tags: Souad Mekhennet

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

March 15, 2017 by Christina

Fiction – print. Little, Brown and Company, 2016. 291 pgs. Library copy. Seven years after the Irish potato famine of 1845 and 1852, a Nightingale-trained English nurse by the name of Lib Wright is employed by an Irish town council to investigate the claim that an eleven-year-old resident by the name Anna O’Donnell has existed some four months without consuming any food. As deeply pious Catholics, Anna, her parents, and her cousin-turned-maid believe the young girl’s faith in God is sustaining her life, and the […]

Categories: 2017 Reads, Book Club, Europe, Fiction, Giller Prize, Ireland, Kerry Group Award, Religion • Tags: Emma Donoghue

Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me by Harvey Pekar and J.T. Waldman

February 23, 2016 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Hill and Wang, 2012. 176 pgs. Library copy.  Over the course of an afternoon in Ohio, Pekar interweaves the history of Judaism from Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac on the alter for God to expressions of the Jewish faith in 2011 with his own personal history as a Jew and a critic of Israel. Panels are devoted to depicting both histories — the personal and the publicly shared — as well as the time Pekar and Waldman spend […]

Categories: 2016 Reads, Comics, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Nonfiction, North America, Religion, United States • Tags: Harvey Pekar, J.T. Waldman, Joyce Brabner

Killing a King by Dan Ephron

December 23, 2015 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. Print. 304 pgs. Library copy. On November 4, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel was assassinated as he left a pro-Oslo Accords peace rally in Israel by a twenty-five-year-old Israeli citizen named Yigal Amir, who justified his actions through the Talmudic concept of “rodef”. The law of “din rodef” allows an individual to kill a person in order to save innocent lives and, according to Amir, Rabin was guilt of murdering Israeli settlers in the West Bank because he […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Nonfiction, Religion • Tags: Dan Ephron

Betrayal by The Investigative Staff of The Boston Globe

December 17, 2015 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Little, Brown, 2008. Originally published 2002. 304 pgs. Library copy. As a resident of Boston and someone who briefly worked in journalism, I felt compelled to see “Spotlight”, a feature film that follows the Boston Globe‘s reporting of the Catholic Church child-abuse scandal in 2001-2002. The film certainly makes a compelling case for supporting the local paper and, more specifically, the investigative journalists who take months to develop a story rather than the click-bait headlines that seem to be […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Crime, New England, Nonfiction, North America, Religion, United States • Tags: Ben Bradlee Jr., Kevin Cullen, Matt Carroll, Michael Paulson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Stephen Kurkjian, The Boston Globe, Thomas Farragher, Walter V. Robinson

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

February 27, 2015 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Crown, 2014. 350 pgs. Library copy. Subtitled “In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan”, Nordberg’s book introduces readers to families who have made the decision to raise their daughters as bacha posh (“dressed up like a boy” in Dari). These young girls are raised as boys and, therefore, allowed to travel freely outside the home, attend school, work, and play with other children unlike females of all ages. As Nordberg explains, because Afghanistan is a patriarchal […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Book Club, Middle East, Nonfiction, Religion • Tags: Jenny Nordberg

A Love That Multiplies by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar

November 18, 2014 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Howard Books, 2011. 288 pgs. Library copy. Subtitled “An Up-Close View of How They Make it Work”, the Duggars’ second book is anchored by the story of the premature birth of their nineteenth child, Josie, and the loss of Jim Bob’s father to a brain tumor. The rest of the book is devoted to covering why they decided to stop using birth control, how they manage to raise such a large family without going into debt, and […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Nonfiction, North America, Religion, United States • Tags: Jim Bob Duggar, Michelle Duggar

Thirteen Days in September by Lawrence Wright

October 7, 2014 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Knopf, 2014. 368 pgs. Library copy. Subtitled “Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David”, Wright’s book covers the development of the historic Camp David Accords of 1978  and the frameworks written during the Accords that would lead to the first peace treaty to exist between Israel and an Arab neighbor. He guides the reader through the event of each day explaining how the seesaw of negotiations tipped several times a day. Yet Wright steps back long enough […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Nonfiction, Religion • Tags: Lawrence Wright

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (Part Two)

September 30, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — print. Villard, 1996. 408 pgs. Library copy. Within the final two pages of the novel, Russell finally informs the reader as to the source of the title for her novel (quoted below) offering up the closing thought on religion in this science fiction novel. I stated in my thoughts on the first half of the novel that Russell is “in no way is Russell preachy or suggestive about how religion should play a role in the life of […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Fiction, Readalong, Religion • Tags: Mary Doria Russell

Unchosen by Hella Winston

September 23, 2014 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Beacon Press, 2006. 216 pgs. Library copy. Subtitled “The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels”, Winston introduces readers to young adults raised in Hasidic (also known as, ultra-Orthodox) Jewish families in Brooklyn, New York who are struggling within the confines of their community and the decision of whether to stay or leave. Winston’s interactions with the Satmar sect, who do not evangelize with the outside community the way the Lubavitch sect does, originated as a doctoral dissertation in […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, New York, Nonfiction, North America, Religion, United States • Tags: Hella Winston

Growing Up Duggar by Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger Duggar

September 20, 2014 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Howard Books, 2014. Originally published 2013. 256 pgs. Library copy. Confession: the Duggar family is my guilty pleasure. While I no longer watch their show each week, I could not pass up the opportunity to read their book, particularly one written by the four oldest daughters. The subtitlele, “It’s All About Relationships”, suggests the book will touch upon romantic relationships, which is rather humorous considering none of the girls had entered into a courtship (the Duggar equivalent […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Nonfiction, North America, Religion, United States • Tags: Jana Duggar, Jessa Duggar, Jill Duggar, Jinger Duggar

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (Part One)

September 15, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — print. Villard, 1996. 408 pgs. Library copy. I read twenty-five pages of The Sparrow and then nominated the book as a possible selection for my book club’s October meeting. Yes, it really is that good and if I had not been fighting a cold this past week, I probably would have stayed up all night to read the whole thing in one sitting. I went into reading this book knowing nothing about the topic or the content, and […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Fiction, Readalong, Religion • Tags: Mary Doria Russell