the one where we chat books
(audience participation encouraged)
Happy Saturday, friends! I often get asked for book recommendations on spirituality, especially as it pertains to feminism. And while it’s always my absolute pleasure to help connect people to the resources they need… she’s an onion, honey. She’s got layers. As seriously as I take a good mystical nerd-out, my nose is more often in a novel or memoir.
Fiction was my first love and, honestly, it always will be. But we eat delicious veggies AND we have dessert, am I right? So in today’s book extravaganza, we’ll put it all on the table and feast!
These lists are by no means exhaustive. They just happened to be what came to mind this week. I know I’m forgetting a million titles worth recommending, so let’s just all start with that base assumption, okay? Also, I commission and edit book reviews at the National Catholic Reporter for a living, so I can attest that either searching the archives or subscribing over there would be well worth your time.
So without further ado, grab a fork and let’s dig in.
Feminist theology/spirituality books
She Who Is by Elizabeth Johnson
Untie the Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
In Memory of Her by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza
Truly Our Sister by Elizabeth Johnson
Enfleshing Freedom by M. Shawn Copeland
Sexism and God Talk by Rosemary Radford Ruether
The Defiant Middle by Kaya Oakes
Subversive Habits by Shannen Dee Williams
Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
…it would be a real missed opportunity if I didn’t also include Rewilding Motherhood and Feminist Prayers for My Daughter, hence I shall awkwardly insert them here, like so.
What I’m currently reading
On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen
Everybody Come Alive by Marcie Avis Walker
Pageboy by Elliot Page
My Body by Emily Ratajkowski
Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
What’s on my library hold list
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Wordslut by Amanda Montell
The Push by Ashley Audrain
What I have on hand but haven’t started
The Deep Down Things by Amber and Seth Haines
Chouette by Clare Oshetsky
Opening to Darkness by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Modern storytelling that has changed me
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Now it’s your turn
Throw a book rec or two in the comments with a one-sentence description. Who knows how many of us (myself included) will find our next book this way!
Hey podcast lovers
I got to help my friends kick off the third season of Beyond the Habit, a podcast hosted by the coolest young Catholic sisters (the nun kind, not the family kind) you could ever hope to meet. We talked about my book Feminist Prayers for My Daughter, the prayers we don’t even realize we need as women, the weird and wonderful joy of finding the sacred in nature, and finding ways to pass on delight in God.
‘til next time,
Shannon
Recently finished Maggie Smith’s divorce memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Kate Baer’s gorgeous slim volume of poetry And Yet, Nightbitch (after I saw you posting about it - WOW wow wow. It brought up so much grief and rage) I’m currently reading Women Who Run With the Wolves.
Books I've loved recently: Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (Alexis Pauline Gumbs); A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir and Manifesto on Reimagining (Rachel E. Cargle); You Could Make This Place Beautiful (Maggie Smith); and I'm rereading Toni Morrison's novels because I didn't always understand them my first time through (current favorite: Sula).
Books I've written recently: unbelieve: poems on the journey to becoming a heretic; jaded: a poetic reckoning with white evangelical christian indoctrination. (they're more fun than they sound—ha!)