A Spiritual Memoir Every Month to Expand Your Inner World

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
– Native American proverb

As the two other women sit around a table with me on a cool fall afternoon, the stories come easily. One by one, we share a little more of ourselves. About people from our past. About amusing adventures we’ve had. About current struggles we’re working through.

Through stories, we get to know each other deeper. We get to know ourselves better, too.

Lory encouraged us on her blog last January to “expand our inner world by reading about the spiritual journeys of others.” She suggested twelve prompts and recommended we each pull from a diversity of spiritual traditions and paths.

I accepted her Spiritual Memoir Challenge to read more stories.

I’m glad I did. It fit perfectly with my One Word Human.

Here are the 12 memoirs (some fascinating, some not so good) that I read month by month, plus 10 extras I read throughout the year. This is the most memoirs I’ve ever read in one year and it was fascinating.

1. JANUARY (Hinduism)

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

This was the hardest book for me and the one I’m least likely to recommend just because it was difficult to understand. However, I knew nothing about this genre of eastern spirituality before I started reading, so I did learn a few things and the stories were entertaining. And this is apparently a worldwide classic on spirituality, so there’s that. (But I won’t reread it like Steve Jobs apparently did again and again.)

2. FEBRUARY (Buddhism)

In Search of Buddha’s Daughters: A Modern Journey Down Ancient Roads by Christine Toomey

This one was more interesting. It chronicles stories of women from vastly differently backgrounds around the world who have chosen to take the monastic vows to become Buddhist nuns. One thing that stood out to me was that sexism exists inside many religions, including Buddhism.

3. MARCH (Christianity)

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd

I finally felt at home again reading this memoir since I know Christianity from the inside. Sue Monk Kidd shares an intimate look at how her Christianity has shifted through the years as she gathers life experiences. Very easy to read as well as emotionally engaging.

4. APRIL (Judaism)

My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew by Abigail Pogrebin

I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about Jewish traditions. When Abigail Pogrebin realized she had only minimal background knowledge about her Jewish heritage (both the traditions she did practice and those she didn’t), she set out on a year’s adventure to explore 18 Jewish holidays. This book is her findings.

5. MAY (Leaving one tradition for another or none)

Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young

This was one of the most disturbing memoirs I read. Daniella Young grew up as a member of the religious cult “The Children of God.” Her stories of childhood are harrowing, as was her process of leaving the cult and entering the mainstream world. Highly recommend.

6. JUNE (Muslim)

The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In by Ayser Salman

Part humorous and part serious, this book showed me how this Muslim woman had to navigate the average American culture in ways I had never considered. This book was fine, but it’s likely there are other books more informative on this subject.

7. JULY (Spirituality through illness)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby

This was the most uncomfortable of the memoirs I read. After a devastating stroke, Bauby—the editor-in-chief of a major magazine at the time—became paralyzed except for his left eyelid through “locked-in-syndrome.” Every word of this book was dictated one letter at a time by the author batting his eyelid to someone as they wrote it all down. I felt I needed to appreciate every single word due to the great effort it took to get his message into the world.

8. AUGUST (Atheism)

Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists by Dan Barker

Dan Barker was a leader in the Evangelical church for over 20 years. This story is his deconversion away from Christianity into a free thinking worldview. He writes respectfully and authentically. Very interesting.

9. SEPTEMBER (Spirituality through bodies)

Nobody Needs to Know: A Memoir by Pidgeon Pagonis

When Pidgeon was born, their genitalia was neither clearly all-male nor all-female. So the doctors chose female as the assigned gender. But over time, Pidgeon learned the truth of being born intersex. Pidgeon opened my eyes to a world I knew very little about. My book review is here.

10. OCTOBER (Spirituality thru illness)

My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church by Amy Kenny

I highly recommend this one for anyone unfamiliar with disability justice (that included me). Hearing the common struggles that those with disabilities endure showed me how many accommodations I take for granted with my abled body. This book is not just about disability in the church, but about in the world.

11. NOVEMBER (Spirituality in politics)

Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins

Once I read the sample for this book, I had to track down a full copy. I’m glad I did. Written from multitudes of Mitt Romney’s journals, emails, and conversations, this book shares the joys and hardships that Senator Romney has experienced during his years in the business world and in politics. Very enjoyable even if you’re not into politics.

12. DECEMBER (Anything)

When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough: A Shooting Survivor’s Journey into the Realities of Gun Violence by Taylor S. Schumann

Taylor Schumann was shot when a gunman entered the college office where she was working. She survived, but she will live with disabilities the rest of her life. The first part of the book was a little disappointing to me, but the second half more than made up for it.

MORE MEMOIRS

Here are ten more memoirs I read throughout the year that I also recommend.

• All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
• The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
• Spare by Prince Harry
• The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey
• Barkley: A Biography by Timothy Bella
• A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing by Amanda Held Opelt
• Standing Our Ground: The Triumph of Faith Over Gun Violence: A Mother’s Story by Lucia Kay McBath
• Find the Helpers: What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose, and Hope by Fred Guttenberg
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
• The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home by Michael Tubbs

Did you read any good memoirs this year? Share in the comments.

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