A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend……
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed biographies. I recall even as a kid reading the Sower Series that my parents had, some of them (Samuel Francis Smith and George Washington Carver in particular, for some reason) over and over. It’s only been in the last couple years that I’ve begun to enjoy memoirs. Biographies, by necessity, insert distance between the subject and the reader via the author, and it’s less personal than the first-person perspective of memoirs, replete with emotion and nuanced motive. Both of them, though, offer a peek into lives that differ, often drastically, from my own, all the more striking because they’re lives that were truly lived, not mere inventions. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, is it not? So today I give you 4 of the best memoirs I’ve read recently.
Dreaming of Lions (Elizabeth Marshall Thomas) – These days, the unexplored frontiers are somewhat limited. There’s outer space – and with the James Webb Space telescope coming online we at least have stunning photos – and the ocean depths. When Elizabeth Marshall Thomas was a young adult in the 1950s, the interior of Africa was still comparatively unexplored and unmapped. At the behest of her father, she left college and went on a number of expeditions with him and the rest of her family to live with and study the !Kung bushmen in the Kalahari desert. Aptly subtitled “My Life in the Wild Places”, it was a fascinating read, and I added a few of her other books to my to-be-read list.
The Broken Circle (Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller) – Employment with the American Embassy could be quite the resume-maker, and so it was for Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller’s father. That is, it was until the Soviets came in and took over Afghanistan. After that, it was more of a liability. The Broken Circle is a memoir of escaping Afghanistan and starting again in a foreign country. I simply stumbled across this in the library when looking for another book; upon reading it, I was reminded very much of a podcast I heard recently that’s also well worth the time.*
Carved in Ebony (Jasmine L. Holmes) – This is not exactly your typical memoir. Jasmine Holmes is a cohost on one of my favorite podcasts, Let’s Talk, where 3 Christian writers and speakers (Melissa Kruger and Jackie Hill Perry, as well as Holmes) do not shy away from the hard topics and Biblical perspectives thereon. This book was mentioned on a couple of those episodes, and I was absolutely delighted (and a little surprised, to be honest) when I saw it in my local library’s online catalog. Here we find biographical sketches of 10 women of color whose faith impacted the world and history, but whose names are little known. The memoir part comes in as Jasmine shares how learning of these women – not just the knowledge, but also the process of researching, and combing through footnotes to find even a tiny bit more information – changed her own life and impacted her.
Not God’s Type (Holly Ordway) – I’m not sure how I came to know of this book. If I had to guess, I would say that it was more than likely a book discussion group on social media. (I really should stop participating in that if I ever want to actually get through my reading list.) Subtitled “an atheist academic lays down her arms, it’s strongly reminiscent of Lewis’s Surprised by Joy and Carolyn Weber’s Surprised by Oxford. The paths we travel in our search for the Lord are varied and diverse, and the reminder of His power to save is never wasted. I don’t fully agree with her theology, but that’s more than likely true of every other person in the world, so don’t let that hold you back.
So there you have it: 4 books I’m reading right now or have recently finished. If you’ve read any of these (or decide to after reading this post), drop me a note and let me know what you thought of them! And let me know what you’re reading right now too.
*Nadia Nadim is a pro soccer player with Racing Louisville of the National Women’s Soccer League, as well as for Denmark’s national team. She was interviewed by Julie Foudy (former US women’s national team player) on Laughter Permitted; you can find that episode here.