{"id":64,"date":"2012-09-15T08:23:53","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T15:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nancymthurston.wordpress.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2012-09-15T08:23:53","modified_gmt":"2012-09-15T15:23:53","slug":"books-for-my-pilgrimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/15\/books-for-my-pilgrimage\/","title":{"rendered":"Books for My Pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading is my favorite doorway into new thoughts, experiences and perspectives.\u00a0 After I\u2019d complied my list of favorite books for inclusion in both Big Topics at Midnight<\/em> and my website<\/a>\u2014a bit overwhelming to say the least \u2026 Are these my favoritest favorites? Am I forgetting a cherished book? …\u2014I stepped back and looked over the list with new eyes.<\/p>\n

I saw lots of diversity on the reading list, but was aware that most of the authors had white skin.\u00a0 I challenged myself to expand the edges of my reading.\u00a0 Last week as I was gathering up books from every room in the house to return them to the shelves or library, I realized I\u2019d stepped up to the plate.\u00a0 And I loved every book.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been drawn to novels, and here are the best from my summer\u2019s reading:<\/p>\n

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky<\/em> by Heidi W. Durrow<\/a>.\u00a0 As her website says, \u201cInspired by a true story of a mother’s twisted love, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky<\/em> reveals an unfathomable past and explores issues of identity at a time when many people are asking \u2018Must race confine us and define us?\u2019\u201d \u00a0Great story about love and tragedy and healing, all held in a biracial family.<\/p>\n

Parable of the Sower<\/em> by Octavia E. Butler<\/a>.\u00a0 This narrative leads through the fire of a civilization in chaos, but \u201cwhat begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny\u2026 and the birth of a new faith.\u201d\u00a0 I love books that head straight into tough, big topics and find transformation on the otherside.<\/p>\n

Women of the Silk <\/em>by Gail Tsukiyama<\/a>.\u00a0 I actually have reread one of her novels (Dreaming Water) <\/em>and read this one.\u00a0 Tsukiyama is a beautiful storyteller, with her books set in China (this one), Japan and\/or the US.<\/p>\n

And for a different sort of diversity, I picked up Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love, and Life<\/em> a memoir by Ryan Sallans<\/a>.\u00a0 A new friend of mine is a female to male transgendered person.\u00a0 His experience is far outside of mine and I wanted to know more.\u00a0 So I picked up this book, learned lots and plan to seek out a few more.<\/p>\n

Nothing like listening to someone else’s story\u2014in fiction or memoir\u2014to learn more about others and myself.<\/p>\n

How about you?\u00a0 What edges do you want to push out a bit through your own reading?<\/p>\n

Enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading is my favorite doorway into new thoughts, experiences and perspectives.\u00a0 After I\u2019d complied my list of favorite books for inclusion in both Big Topics at Midnight and my website\u2014a bit overwhelming to say the least \u2026 Are these my favoritest favorites? Am I forgetting a cherished book? …\u2014I stepped back and looked over the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Books for My Pilgrimage”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,12],"tags":[117,137,193,198,221,224,244,271],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity","category-gender","category-race","tag-gail-tsukiyama","tag-heidi-w-durrow","tag-octavia-e-butler","tag-parable-of-the-sower","tag-ryan-sallans","tag-second-son","tag-the-girl-who-fell-from-the-sky","tag-women-of-the-silk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}