Happy Monday! I had a really lovely weekend—I snuggled itty-bitty Eleni (she’s so smol!), went to a pet race with the dogs, and caught up with my cousin and her toddler at a nearby park. It was a weekend full of people and my heart is very full.
I have three book reviews for you today! I don’t think any of these will be making my favorites lists, but they were still interesting, engaging reads. Let’s get into it:
Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson (★★★★☆)
What an excellent essay collection! In this book, prolific author Michael Eric Dyson pens letters to people who have lost their lives to violence. From Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner to Emmett Till and Sandra Bland, he devotes his words to them, to discuss the way racialized violence has continued to proliferate throughout society since their deaths. I found his essay reliving the moments of George Floyd’s death particularly powerful, a true indictment of the system that failed Floyd. There’s really no solution here, which some people find fault with. But what truly is the solution, when Black people are still being killed by police and vigilantes today? It’s a powerful essay collection where you can truly feel the frustration and pain in Dyson’s words.
Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu (★★★☆☆)
I liked but did not love this book. Perhaps if I read it when it was published, I would have appreciated it more. It was written nearly a decade ago, and man, I just have to have hope that things have gotten better for queer people in the church. In this book, Jeff Chu travels throughout the United States on a spiritual pilgrimage to investigate how to be queer and Christian. From big cities to small towns, mega-churches to tiny congregations, Chu speaks to queer people who have chosen to remain involved in a church and a faith that wants them to be something they are not. It’s sad and frustrating and an indictment on the church as a whole. In his travels, he meets men who have decided to remain celibate, men who married women even though they are gay, and so many people who were kicked out of leadership positions in their churches because of their queer identities. There was very little hope and light in this book, and for me, it just reminded me why it took me so long to embrace my own queer identity: The church doesn’t accept you unless you are hetero. And I deeply desired being accepted by the church (and by God). I am grateful to Chu for taking on this mission, and for talking to people who think the way he lives is an abomination to Christianity. And I just hope and pray the church becomes more and more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. (A note of hope: I checked and there are 21 queer-affirming churches within driving distance of where I live.)
One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare (★★★☆☆)
This was a good historical romance, but it was much too long (nearly 400 pages). I loved the way the relationship between Amelia and Spencer developed in a natural way, from friendship to something more. And I enjoyed the way they both had to come to terms with their own shortcomings: Amelia with the way she enabled her brother again and again, Spencer with his agoraphobia. But I also felt like a lot of the things that happened in this novel didn’t make a ton of sense. There was a whole extra character in this novel who really didn’t need to be there and I don’t know if I totally bought the reason for Spencer and Amelia to get married so quickly. This is one of Dare’s earlier novels and it is proof that her writing and plotting has grown leaps and bounds since this novel was written.
What I’m Reading This Week
- All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (audio) – I’m just a few hours into this audiobook and I’m enjoying it a lot so far. It’s very sweet.
- Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (print) – I’m taking the “slow but steady” approach to this tome, which condenses 400 years of Black living into 80 short essays (and 10 poems). I’m reading about four essays a day, which means it will take me about 20 days to finish this book.
- The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins (print) – This thriller has gotten mixed reviews but so far, I’m enjoying it. It definitely has the potential to go off the rails, though, so we’ll see.
What are you reading?
Gosh, Chu’s book sounds really discouraging. I wonder what it would be like if he wrote it now – hopefully better. I am glad it prompted you to look up those churches in your area. Was it easy to find out if they were queer-affirming? Was it all on one website?
So many people have told me about The Wife Upstairs but thrillers are NOT my jam so I will wait for your review to see if I should read it.
I am reading the second book in a series. The books are 1996, 1997, and 1998. Basically, this woman in current time gets this supplement that lets her go back in time to those years. It’s kind of cheesy but it’s fun and quick 🙂
I looked on gaychurch.org – they have a really easy-to-use website to find the affirming churches in my area! Church Clarity is another great resource and includes other parameters, such as if they allow women to be pastors. (Yes, something we still have to clarify even in 2022!)
The Wife Upstairs was fine, but nothing spectacular. A popcorn thriller, most definitely!
Gosh, I really hope things have changed in the church where you are. I know in the United Church, that I used to attend 20 years ago, there were many gay people in the congregation who were very accepted. It’s been many years since I’ve been to church, but I know they have a rainbow flag in the front of the church so I assume that is a signal that all are welcome in that church. It is a travesty that any branch of Christianity, which is supposed to be based on loving thy neighbour, uses that teaching as conditional, and that people are a so-called abomination to Christianity. That is just so wrong and terrible. I am so sorry you felt that you had to be different for so long, and I am so happy you have embraced your sexuality and who you are! xoxoxo
Thank you so much, friend! I’m so heartened to know that the church by you was affirming even 20 years ago and that gay people felt accepted there! A friend of mine had a similar experience at her synagogue, and it reminds me that everyone who grew up in a religious community had vastly different experiences. It really does not make sense to me, either, that a religion that professes to be about love is so cruel to those who are different. <3
Chu’s book does sound really difficult. I’ve felt really conflicted about my faith in recent years and one of the reasons is the treatment of the LBGTQ+ community. I’m Catholic and the view on homosexuality has really not modernized at all. The pope has tried to be more open and accepting but I don’t know that it’s trickling down. The church I attend is more liberal than other parishes around us, but it’s still something I am sorting through… And it’s probably one of Phil’s top issues with the Catholic church.
I’m currently listening to The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green and reading another fiction book about the French Revolution but I can’t remember what the title is! I really like the John Green book and am glad I’m listening to it but it’s taking awhile to get through since I don’t get much listening time!
It really is so heartbreaking to learn all the different ways queer people were not welcomed in church. It should be an accepting place but people took one thing in the Bible (“man should not sleep with another man”) and extrapolated it and made it something it’s not. It’s disheartening. I just have to continue to hope that things will get better.
I have The Anthropocene Reviewed on my list! Glad to hear you’re enjoying it.