Happy Wednesday, friends! I know I promised to re-start my weekly reading recaps on Monday, but I needed another day to finish the two books I’m reviewing below. One of the reasons I stopped doing my weekly recaps is that sometimes I felt like I was rushing to finish books so I would have something to write about on Mondays. I’m going to try not to do that, which means these recaps may be later in the week than I planned. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s dig into the books I just finished. Both were 5-star reads for me!
Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope by Megan Phelps-Roper (★★★★★)
This memoir from a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church (she’s the granddaughter of the founder) is our February selection for book club, and it was fascinating. I’m sure everyone knows about WBC and their horrific picketing outside of events and military funerals, even the funerals of the children killed at Sandy Hook. Their signs are upsetting so I won’t repeat any of them here, but suffice it to say that WBC believes that any terrible event (like a mass shooting at an elementary school) was from God because we have gravely sinned. Megan Phelps-Roper left the church when she was 26 after spending her entire life entrenched in the cult-like atmosphere of WBC—she started picketing at a startlingly young age and eventually became WBC’s premier voice on social media. It is through social media and meeting people who wanted to genuinely converse with her and challenge her beliefs that she started to really question WBC’s mission and what she truly believed. I truly commend Megan for leaving the church because that takes a level of bravery and courage that most people don’t possess—not only to change what she believed, but also to lose almost her entire family in the process. (Those who leave WBC can no longer be in touch with people inside WBC, so Megan hasn’t spoken to her parents and many of her siblings since she left a decade ago.) In the book, Megan talked a lot about free speech and how even hate speech is protected under the First Amendment (she’s firmly in the camp that hate speech should be protected). It was reallllly uncomfortable for me to read this part of the book, to recognize that even people spewing truly hateful rhetoric are essentially protected under law. I’m still gathering my thoughts about what I think about this because, on the one hand, I can see where Megan is coming from and understand the slippery slope that can happen when we start placing limits on free speech. On the other hand, hate speech can lead to serious violence and cause serious harm to those who are being talked about. That is also a slippery slope. In any event, I think this will make for a very lively book club discussion!
A Wicked Kind of Husband by Mia Vincy (★★★★★)
Self-published romance novels are usually a miss for me, but I gave this one a chance because Anne Bogel raved about it on her podcast. The cover is completely ugly, haha, but this is a good lesson to never judge a book for its cover! This book was phenomenal! I just loved every minute I spent enmeshed in the worlds of Joshua and Cassandra. Their banter was perfectly written and the way they moved from enemies to cautious friends to lovers to husband and wife was so beautiful. There was something so sweet about their love for one another, especially considering they both had their own demons to face before they could fully commit to each other. Their meet-cute was also something I’ve never seen in a romance before: what if you had married a man and only spent one night with him before he left you for months… and the next time you see him, neither of you even recognizes one another? AHH! So good! This is one I want to press into the hands of every historical romance lover I know!
What I’m Reading This Week
- Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian (audio) – I have just a few hours left in this YA novel about two gay teenagers growing up in the late 1980s and how the AIDS epidemic affects their love story. I am really worried the ending is going to rip me apart.
- Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (print) – I just started this novel (another YA!) yesterday and I’m flying through it. It’s so well-written!
What are you reading?
Oh wow, that first book sounds like a heavy one. I bet it will make for a great book club discussion. The WBC is truly such an awful awful awful organization. But it would be hard to break away from something that you were trained to believe/surrounded by. So it’s impressive that she could actually change her mind about things by having conversations with others. The hate speech thing is really hard…
I’m reading 3 books right now which I really don’t like to do! One is Count of Monte Cristo, though, so that is just a small reading/day. Then I am reading a hardcover of “These Precious Days.” But I like to have an eBook going at all times so I can read while nursing Will or if I have downtime during the day. My eBook is “State of Terror” by Hillary Clinton/Louise Penny. I am only about 15% in but am enjoying it so far. Clinton clearly has so much inside knowledge so that is really helping with the plot line/story development. I have another physical book from the library about The Great British Bake-Off show so I will likely have 3 books going for awhile but after that I don’t think I have any physical books on hold!
Unfollow was very heavy at times, especially the first half of the book where Megan talked very plainly about the rhetoric of the church and what she believed. I think it’s so amazing that she was able to change her beliefs and break away, knowing it meant leaving her entire life/family behind.
I thought that Unfollow memoir was absolutely fascinating right until she left the church. I thought the integration into non-church society would be fascinating to read, but it was really dull, from my point of view. I think it would make an interesting book club discussion, though!
I’m currently reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I’ve heard is an amazing fantasy book, but hasn’t gripped me just yet. Hopefully I’ll fall in love with it soon.
Yeah, I felt the same way about how she integrated into the “real world” after leaving the church. I was really curious about how she made money and survived in those first few months. Did they just have a lot of savings? It definitely lacked the appeal of the first 60% of the book.
Wow- that first book sounds fascinating. It just goes to show- even if there’s someone you REALLY don’t agree with, it’s worth it to engage them in conversation- you never know when you might change someone’s mind.
Right now I’m reading Know My Name by Chanel Miller, which I chose because of all the great reviews it got (including yours!). I’m not very far into it yet, but i can tell she’s an incredible writer.
I really commend the people who tried to engage people who have vastly different beliefs than them in conversation. I think it helped that Megan had a funny, approachable style even when she was spewing hateful rhetoric. She wasn’t getting too personal or taking offense when others disagreed with her. That really helps have a productive conversation.
“I escaped a crazy cult” memoirs are my fav genre for some reason! That book is such a good one, because that cult is so especially bad and relevant to our times.
Have you read The Idea of You? I think you’ll love it, it’s fun, unusual, and a little trashy!
Who knew that WBC was such a crazy cult? The more I read about this church, the more cult-like it seemed, especially since it cut off family members who left the church! Like what?! That’s insane.
The Idea of You is on my TBR list. I need to get around to it!
Wow, that Unfollow book sounds both fascinating and totally disturbing. What an act of bravery though! I just finished Standard Deviation (LOVED IT) and am now on The Mother Tongue, which is about the English language and how weird it is.
I’ve heard so many good things about Standard Deviation! I think I need to be in the right headspace for it, since you said it’s very character-driven. Maybe a good one to try on audio!
Unfollow sounds really good! Do you think any parts of it would be too triggering for me?
Now I want to see the cover of A Wicked Kind of Husband lol!
I hope you have something sweet and uplifting to read after Like A Love Story!!!
I am reading A Woman Is No Man.
Unfollow can be triggering to some people who may have been involved in an evangelical church community, but if you don’t have that experience, I think you’d be fine! At my book club meeting, it was all those of us who grew up in the church that had a much more visceral reaction to the book than those who didn’t.
Ohhh, that first book sounds… difficult. Not sure I am in the right headspace for that right now. And, unfortunately, I’m not as big a fan of romance as you are! But I still love seeing what you’re reading, and what others share in the comments. Books are always a good topic for discussion, aren’t they? So many different perspectives and ideas. Thanks for sharing!
We had a really great book club discussion about Unfollow, which was wonderful. Those of us who come from religious backgrounds had a much different perspective than those who didn’t, and it was really interesting to get everyone’s thoughts!
I do love it when a book sparks discussion about different experiences, perspectives, and beliefs. I’m not in a book club, but doing some buddy-reads with a longtime friend. Who has, um, a very different perspective on faith and belief than I do. It would be interesting to see what she thinks of this (I am not saying she’s in a cult but she is deeply involved with a church that strays a bit closer to that line than I think is good….). I can’t even imagine going through what the author went through, though. Wow.